Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I reject the report, that I have heard about, of comments attributed to and alleged to have been made by the Minister, Deputy Rabbitte. He was clear and categoric in his response to that, stating that no such thing was said by him. In the past, there were parallel departments of finance. There was a semblance of a department of finance in the Department of the Taoiseach, keeping a close eye on what was happening in the Department of Finance itself. For quite some time in the past, we had evidence of the scarcity of qualified people to drive economic policy in the country, but that has changed. The Government has a clear plan for dealing with our economic problems and woes, which is partly related to the programme for Government. It is also related to the fact that we are in a bailout programme and must get our deficit down to 3% of GDP by 2015. We must also consistently work with and renegotiate elements of the memorandum of understanding with the troika, and reduce our debt. In addition, we must grow our economy thus providing opportunities for business to grow, exports to expand and jobs to be created. Contrary to the Deputy's allegation, the Government has a clear plan which we are following through to develop our economy and provide those opportunities.

In so far as the formulation of economic policy is concerned, Deputy Martin is aware that I chair the Economic Management Council, which deals with issues of an economic nature that arise prior to their being presented to Government. At the council we have a direct input, assessment and discussion about each of these issues. In addition, as director of the Cabinet agenda, I follow through with my colleagues discussions on the formulation of economic policy and how that should be decided.

In appointing Ministers, the Taoiseach allocates responsibility and those responsibilities should be lived up to. There is no need for extensive duplication in Departments, with one doing the same as another. There are clear guidelines as well as a clear structure and strategy. If Ministers are having problems with a particular issue we discuss it, release the blockage and get on with it.

From the perspective of the Office of the Taoiseach, it is achievable to have fixed times for responses to various stages of whatever action might be being followed. In that sense, economic policy formulation is discussed with Ministers, organisations and groups across a broad spectrum prior to these policies being finalised. Deputy Martin says that nothing new has happened here, but when I launched the jobs action programme with the Minister, Deputy Bruton, I said that quite a number of good suggestions were made in the past, including when Deputy Martin was in government. However, they were never acted upon; they were left lying in reports which gathered dust on shelves in various Departments, having been paid for by the taxpayer. I make no apology for saying openly that a number of those proposals were there for years. I see no reason they should not be implemented now if they are good suggestions of a practical nature that will help business to flourish and increase job creation opportunities. When the jobs action plan was published, I said that these were not all new ideas from this Government. A number of them had been there for some time, but were never followed through. They will be followed through now. There is a specific section in the Department of the Taoiseach to see that this actually happens, with assistance from redeployed personnel from Forfás.

It means that when Ministers come before Cabinet sub-committees they are requested to report on progress in so far as how items, for which they have responsibility, on the jobs action plan are behaving. They know that the next quarterly publication will be made public, so it is in their own interests to make decisions within their Departments. It is not just a question of saying that they have done this, but also of outlining its impact and effectiveness. This must be seen by the wider business community as helping to achieve our ambition of demonstrating that, by 2016, we will be the best small country in which to do business.

See this speech in context