Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I know that the Deputy shares my view on facilities provided anywhere in the country which improve the lot of patients. On the issue raised, I have spoken to people who have needed dialysis three times a week for eight to ten years, many of whom live in my own county and who used to have to travel to Galway for such treatment. Taking traffic into account and so forth, they were spending eight or ten hours a day, three times a week in travelling and receiving treatment. For them it is a great bonus. The staff who look after them recognise that having a facility closer to home is much better for them. While the Department of Health made a substantial allocation in this case, the majority of the funding was raised by Cystic Fibrosis Ireland and Cystic Fibrosis West.

On the issue of line Ministers, if we were to go back to the structure that was in place previously, it would be an open invitation for anybody with an issue to go straight through the structure directly to the Taoiseach and members of the Government. It is important for Ministers to be able to engage regularly with the people for whom they have responsibility. I am not saying I am not accessible to such persons. For instance, the Minister for Finance, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, the Minister for Social Protection and the Minister for Education and Science meet on a regular basis with a very wide range of organisations and entities dealing with social issues. Before the last budget, there was a raft of engagements with organisations which had made pre-budget submissions. My Department co-ordinates engagement on the European semester process, Europe 2020 and the national reform programme, on which a submission must be made to the European Commission next April. We will have to engage with the relevant Ministers and organisations and channel the information back into our preparation of the submission.

There is no legislation dealing with collective bargaining. The Government is considering how best to deal with the commitment in the programme for Government to deal with the European position on the recognition of trade unions. The matter will be pursued. While I do not want to get into the details of the Marks & Spencer dispute, as I understand it, the defined benefit pension scheme was closed to new entrants a number of years ago. I am glad that the discussions taking place have resulted in the workers being able to go back to work and that the stores are not closed at one of the most important times of the year for retailers. When there were indications recently that a strike at the ESB was imminent, I was contacted by lots of employees of the company at various levels who were concerned about a potentially catastrophic outcome for the country. They expressed their concerns very strongly to me. It is not the case that I am being closed off from anybody.

The NESC has not prepared a report for me on emigration.

The NESC reports to me on strategic issues about the efficient development of the economy and the achievement of social justice. It also provides a forum for engagement between the Government and social partners on economic, social and environmental issues. It has now integrated sustainable development into its work following the dissolution of the organisation known as Comhar, the Sustainable Development Council. The NESC has provided successive Governments with excellent research and analysis on economic and social issues of significant importance nationally. Following a request from the Government in 2011, the NESC secretariat produced two reports on climate change, an interim report in June 2012, Towards A New National Climate Policy, and a final report, Ireland and the Climate Change Challenge: Connecting 'How Much' with 'How To' in December 2012. This develops a basis for Ireland’s long transition to a carbon-neutral economy and society. This document is having an important bearing on the national dairy sustainability programme recently launched by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine. Ireland is the first country to be able to track carbon footprint in the dairy industry, which will be particularly important when milk quotas go in 2015.

In 2012, the NESC published several important studies on maintaining quality and standards in important public services. Last May, it produced a report on the social dimensions of the economic crisis and the subsequent fiscal adjustments, the evidence and their implications. Last month, it produced a report, Ireland's Five Part Crisis, Five Years On: Deepening Reform and Institutional Innovation, which identifies the need to integrate and balance three different types of public sector reform for the provision of high quality services, continuous improvement and policy adaptation. The report strongly supports the need for a fiscal framework that would enhance stability, prevent excessive debt and support growth. Such an framework, it suggests would facilitate policy experimentation by providing reassurance that spending on innovative initiatives is not part of a general loss of fiscal discipline or accountability. The central challenge is to increase innovation and accountability at the front line and to build a supportive centre that is capable of spreading best practice, leading policy review and learning for the future.

The council’s report also identifies policy and institutional developments specific to four selected policy areas, namely small and medium enterprise finance and investment, enterprise policy, green economy and labour activation. On the latter point, the report warns there is a need to address skills mismatches in training programmes. The Minister for Social Protection has been strong on seeking far more employers dealing with the live register. On the five occasions I have visited an Intreo office with the Minister, I noted this was beginning to be understood. In other countries, the multinational sector employs significant numbers of young people for training and internships which gives them valuable work experience.

It is an important consideration to have this high quality research and advice available to the Government, particularly at a time of great economic challenge. I expect and want the NESC to continue with that. These matters identified by the NESC in its reports have crystallised the Government’s thinking in certain important areas. With 18 consecutive months of a fall in the live register, the focus of the Minister for Social Protection is to work with SOLAS, an tSeirbhís Oideachais Leanúnaigh agus Scileanna, and the youth guarantee on how to build on the Momentum programme and JobsPlus and JobBridge, both of which programmes received high commendations from the OECD.

It is in everyone’s interest that we have the best ideas coming from the political process and skilled advisers such as the NESC. It would be no skin off my nose if Deputy McDonald’s party or Deputy Martin’s gave me three job creation ideas. Getting people off the live register and providing them with meaningful job opportunities does not necessarily have to come exclusively from the Government.

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