Paudie Coffey (Waterford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the spring economic statement, which represents an important opportunity for Deputies on all sides to lay before the House their views on the economic status of the country and the citizens who live here.

In order to have good fiscal management and balanced budgets, it is good practice to have a transparent debate ahead of the budget in the next few months. It is important for the Government to set the scene making a clear statement of intent of where its priorities lie. It is also open to Opposition Members to make their case on what they would do differently to manage the economy and manage the country. That is what good debate should entail. Rather than opposing the spring economic statement I would have thought the Opposition would have welcomed the opportunity to debate the issues on a case-by-case basis. I believe the statement of intent will give a solid indication not only to the Irish people but to the various sectors in the economy, including the unions and employers, and foreign investors of the state of the Irish economy now in comparison with how it was four or five years ago when the Government came to office.

This Government was in crisis management mode for our first three years in office. We were trying to stabilise the public finances while bringing the country back to a position where we could attract inward investment once again. It is clear from the figures for employment and revenue that solid progress has been made. That progress is up for debate and the Government is moving from crisis management to managing the recovery and the growth opportunities that now present.

In his opening contribution, the Minister for Finance specifically mentioned the construction 2020 strategy for which I have responsibility. This strategy is vital to Ireland's economic recovery because the construction sector suffered in the crash more than any other sector as it was reliant on an unsustainable boom and bust cycle. When the crash occurred, not only did the rate of construction of houses, which are now badly needed, fall off the cliff but also many of the people previously employed in the construction faced unemployment or emigration. As the economy recovers, it is important that the construction sector is put on a sustainable footing. We need to start building the right types of houses in the right locations if we are to provide sustainable employment in this sector.

I listened with interest to Deputy Cowen's contribution. He castigated the Government for not building houses. I remind the Deputy that the previous Fianna Fáil Government abdicated its responsibility for local authority house building programmes by handing them over to the private sector via Part V provisions. Unfortunately, when the crash caused private housing construction to cease, it meant social housing also ceased completely. Through this Government's intervention with a new social housing strategy, local authorities will directly engage in housing construction for the first time in a generation. The allocations in this regard will be announced in the coming weeks. To ease the Deputy's worries, I can assure him they will include County Offaly. He claimed that there are no available houses in that county but I am happy to report that Offaly County Council and the Oaklee Housing Trust, with support from my Department, will be opening 29 units in Church Hill in Tullamore at the end of this month. I look forward to the Deputy welcome that development.

At the peak of the economic boom in 2007, approximately 270,000 people were employed in the construction sector but by 2012 the figure had fallen to fewer than 100,000 construction workers, including professionals such as architects and engineers as well as labourers. No other sector in Ireland's economy suffered as severely. In a properly functioning modern economy, the construction sector should be contributing 12% of GNP. In 2012 the sector contributed just 6.4% to GNP but by 2014 it had grown to 7.1% of GNP. While this is an improvement, there is still room for growth in the sector.

In the coming weeks I will be bringing the urban regeneration and housing Bill to the House. This Bill will provide for a vacant site levy, changes to Part V obligations and the possibility for local authorities to retrospectively reduce planning contributions and development charges to support further housing construction in the private sector. I intend to progress the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2012, which is currently on Committee Stage in the Seanad. We also intend to publish the planning (No. 2) Bill before the summer recess to provide for a new national planning framework to replace the National Spatial Strategy, which has enjoyed only limited success. The new framework will ensure proper regional planning for many years to come.

There is a serious housing need right across Ireland and we need a mix of solutions to meet demand. Last month the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government and I were delighted to announce €1.5 billion in funding for social housing to 2017. This will enable 22,000 social housing units to be delivered to people on the housing lists. It is expected that the number of house completions will reach 16,000 by the end of this year. This represents an increase of almost 50% on 2014. While these numbers will not meet the demand for this year, they none the less represent strong progress in the right direction.

The Minister, Deputy Noonan, noted yesterday that net emigration will shortly be ended and that many of our young people who left Ireland are returning home. There is no doubt that we need skilled construction workers to come home to help build houses across Ireland. The Construction Industry Federation shares these views and is active in this area. I suggest to the parents who saw their children go abroad a number of years ago that it is time their sons and daughters started to look to home. I recently visited a number of secondary schools in my own area to observe construction classes and listen to the views of young people about entering construction trades and professions. I am glad to report that students are increasingly considering the sector. However, we cannot become dependent on construction if we are to sustain employment in the future.

The spring economic statement ensures that if the right policies are implemented for the coming years, the Government will be in a position to implement expansionary budgets which will benefit every citizen in this country. Our deficit will fall below 3% to 2.3% of GDP this year and national debt is on a downward path; having peaked in 2013, it is now expected to drop below 100% of GDP and move towards the EU average in the coming years. In the coming weeks, the Government will make an announcement on strengthening the mortgage arrears framework to help the more than 30,000 homeowners who are in long term arrears. Budget 2016 will seek to increase expenditure by €600 million to €750 million to allow the Government to deal with demographic pressures in social protection, education and health. We should have an open and transparent debate on how funds might be prioritised to benefit the regions.

Unemployment is falling rapidly and jobs are being created on a daily basis. Unemployment now stands at 10% nationally and in my own region of the south east, which was one of the worst affected regions, unemployment stood at 11.9% at the end of 2014. When we hit peak unemployment in 2012, the unemployment rate was 15.1% nationally and 20.1% in the south east. Since this Government was elected to office, 97,100 full-time jobs have been created. We have seen the live register fall by 92,517 people in the same period. In 2014 Ireland's economy grew by just under 5% and this year it will grow by an estimated 4%. A good example from the south east of a company that restructured to become competitive is Bausch & Lomb. Last year it was under threat of losing nearly 1,000 jobs but this morning it announced investments worth €115 million and an additional 175 jobs. The existing jobs will be sustained. There are similar opportunities for other regions.

We are on the right path and, while we still have a long way to travel, there is no doubt that Irish citizens deserve great credit for coming this far with us. I hope they will see that the alternative to this journey is chaos, instability and a lack of investment. These are real choices that politicians and, more important, the Irish people must make.

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