Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for bringing forward this legislation, which we support. Forfás has provided excellent service to the State since its foundation in 1994. As a policy think tank, it has regularly challenged enterprise policy and Government policy generally. I pay tribute to the chief executive officer, Mr. Martin Shanahan, and his team, as well as his predecessors. This Bill has the potential to strengthen significantly the Department's enterprise policy function, which has not performed as well as it could have done over the years. The subsuming of Forfás into the Department is an important step in this regard.

Having said that, I have several caveats regarding these proposals. Last year, Forfás spent in the region of €11.3 million on research. It is important that this budget is ring-fenced when the agency is amalgamated within the Department and that the new strategic unit is given control over its budget. Staff should not have to go cap in hand to departmental management every time they want to undertake a particular project. Forfás has a reputation for producing well researched challenges to the system, this House and Government policy. That academic independence must be retained. There is no logic in Forfás becoming the public relations office of the Department. On the contrary, it must continue to challenge the Department and every sector of society in regard to enterprise policy. If these proposals result in that ability to challenge being weakened, it will be a very bad day for this country and we will seek to have the legislation reversed.

Forfás has completed important work in the past 12 months. The national competitiveness survey points to rising labour costs and an increase in costs within the economy generally. The agency has drawn attention to future demand for high-level ICT skills, an area in which the Minister of State has done a great deal of work, and argued that we must change our systems in order to create jobs. I see a large number of young people in the Gallery today. The report to which I referred has a direct implication for their ability to get a job in this country in the coming years. The agency also issued a report showing that deficiencies in the supply of clean water is costing jobs, which is very relevant to the discussion in recent weeks on the establishment of Irish Water. I would be very interested to see a report from Forfás on the establishment costs associated with the setting up of that new public utility.

In May 2013, Forfás published an important report, Making it in Ireland - Manufacturing 2020. There has been something of a consensus in this country in recent years that there was no longer potential for a substantial manufacturing sector because our economy had moved on. The agency's report challenged that assumption and showed the scope for job creation in this sector and for Ireland as a manufacturing destination.

Forfás's latest report on business costs shows a 12% increase in legal fees. Unfortunately, the Minister for Justice and Equality continues to put his hands to his ears when it comes to this issue in a case of see no evil, hear no evil. Meanwhile, we are still awaiting the progress of the Legal Services Regulation Bill. It is important that Forfás, when it is amalgamated with the Department, can still issue the type of challenge to Ministers that it did in this report. That academic freedom and capacity to challenge Government must be safeguarded.

The Department has the potential, with the team from Forfás coming in, to up its game considerably in terms of challenging itself and the enterprise community. I am a sceptic when it comes to the Action Plan for Jobs and some of the factors which account for the increase in employment we have seen. We had this discussion in committee yesterday with the Secretary General of the Department and his team. The action plan for 2014 will be published soon and launched at a large press conference at which all the Ministers will be wheeled out. We will be told that there was something in the region of a 90% to 95% completion rate in respect of actions for 2013, which is rather like an opinion poll in North Korea. As I pointed out to the Secretary General yesterday, one of the actions that will be marked as successfully completed in 2013 is the provision of finance to the small and medium-sized enterprise sector, with emphasis placed on the allocation of €2.5 billion on the part of the two pillar banks, Bank of Ireland and Allied Irish Banks, to small business. When I tabled a parliamentary question to the Minister for Finance seeking the details of that allocation - to whom it was lent, whether to new or existing facilities, and so on - the reply I received was that the information could not be provided because it is commercially sensitive. It is not good enough that we have been provided with no evidence to back up some of the claims that are being made.

Will the Minister of State clarify the position in regard to the agency's former premises at Carrisbrook House in Dublin? I understand the agency is tied into a 65-year lease on the property, which is now vacant. The rent was €9990,000 in 2012, accounting for 15% of the agency's staff costs. The lease is not due to end until 2034, which means Forfás will have to pay out more than €20 million over the next 20 years on a premises it no longer uses. It is ironic that Forfás was to the forefront in pointing to the damage the upward-only rent review provision was doing to the Irish economy.

I am concerned by the Minister of State's remark regarding the standing down of the Advisory Council for Science, Technology and Innovation. Will he clarify the current role of that group and whether and how it will be reconstituted?

I take this opportunity to pay tribute to the staff of Forfás and its sister agency, IDA Ireland, for their significant successes in 2013 in very difficult circumstances. They are doing a super job throughout the country. Although it is true of every State agency, Forfás needs more resources. It is an agency that is delivering. It must be facilitated to build a much larger footprint in China, Brazil and India, where there is significant potential for future investment. This legislation is welcome if we can be sure that the research budget that will be available to Forfás following its amalgamation into the Department is safeguarded and, most importantly, that its academic and research independence will be retained. When we are long gone from this House, the role of Forfás and its successor agencies in challenging enterprise policy and challenging a system that is very slow to respond to the needs of enterprise will be as important as ever. The Government system does not understand enterprise and does not move quickly enough to address its needs. Forfás always worked to challenge that and to push for progress. It will be a disgrace if, by supporting this legislation, we precipitate an erosion of its ability to perform that function. It would be a disservice to those seeking employment and to the enterprise community. Above all, it would be a disservice to those who have worked very hard and served this country very well by their employment in Forfás since its inception in 1994.

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