Alan Farrell (Dublin North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I compliment the Minister of State, Deputy Tom Hayes, for outlining the stark realities the electorate faces at the next general election. It faces a choice between the economic stability this Government created over the past four years against the chaotic approach of the Opposition, particularly from Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin, in opposing policies but putting no alternatives forward.

In November 2010, I was selected to run for Fine Gael in the Dublin North constituency. I was a councillor at the time with seven years’ experience. The stark reality then was that our economy was in tatters. At the time, I was a recent convert to social media such as Twitter. I remember there was a hashtag called "bond yield watch" which showed the interest rate on Irish bonds increasing as high as 16%. Today, the rate on an Irish bond is 0.62%. That is a stark reminder of the situation the country found itself in, having less than six weeks of money in reserve to pay for the day-to-day public services that our citizens demand. There was six weeks of money left to pay public servants, our gardaí, our nurses, our military and everyone from local authority to medical staff.

That chaotic environment left this economy in tatters. We inherited a basket case. Thankfully, however, due to much work by the Government over the past several years, we have been able to stabilise the public finances, so much so that our debt- to-GDP ratio has gone from 110% to 89.9% last year. It has improved on that since then.

We had over 400,000 people unemployed four years ago. That figure has now dropped down to 350,000 people, the first time since 2009. The long-term unemployment rate has reduced significantly over the past couple of years. Given that I represent the constituency with the youngest age demographic in the State, the unemployment rate for the under-25s has fallen from 85,000 in January 2010 to 49,000 this year, some 40% of a drop which is an indictment of the policies introduced at the launch of the Action Plan for Jobs in 2012 by the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Richard Bruton, and his Department. It has meant the long-term unemployment rate has reduced by 10% in the past 12 months. We have created 95,000 new jobs, net of education schemes, emigration and job losses. That is 95,000 families who are directly affected by these gains as our economy improves. Those gains bring a sense of fulfilment for every individual who has managed to get a job. It is also a significant gain for the State. The cost of supplying jobseeker’s benefit is approximately €20,000 per person per annum. It is a further gain to the State as those in employment pay tax and PRSI. Each individual who gets a job contributes to their local community and economy. This is incredibly important in sustaining the 95,000 jobs created over the past three and a half years.

A previous Opposition speaker referred to apprenticeship schemes. I welcome the moves made by the Department on that front. It was unfair and inappropriate for him to suggest we were not providing enough teachers. We have increased the number of teachers by over 3,000. We have increased the number of SNAs, special needs assistants, since we came into office by over 1,000. We are also rolling out an apprenticeship scheme which is essential to an economy at this stage in its recovery.

Up to 15 individuals approach me every month with problems getting accommodation for themselves or who are in private rented accommodation where the rent allowance simply does not cover it. In turn, they have to make contributions to it which is of course frowned upon but, at the same time, they have to live somewhere. The investment of €2.2 billion in social housing over the next three years is an essential component of the Government’s response to the housing crisis. No one will deny we are in the middle of a housing crisis. The €4 billion allocation for housing over five years is a huge step. To put that in context, that would equate to 23% of the housing requirement of the housing list for Fingal County Council. That is a combination of housebuilding and the purchasing of properties for social housing purposes. It is essential we accelerate this programme. I know the Minister of State, Deputy Paudie Coffey, is doing great work in delivering those properties. Putting shovels in the ground to deliver these properties is what is absolutely necessary in ensuring we tackle both the issue of homelessness and those who are perilously close to becoming homeless.

Pyrite is a matter which affects 12,000 to 15,000 properties across north Leinster, predominantly in my constituency. I was informed of it affecting my house on July 17, 2007. There are thousands of families whose developers are unable to remediate their properties because it costs approximately €50,000 per property and many of these firms are insolvent. The previous Government did nothing. It did not even acknowledge the problem or have the common courtesy in the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government to acknowledge a letter from the building control unit in Fingal County Council putting forward several solutions for properties contaminated by pyritic infill material. There was no response from the previous Government to the cries of families across north Leinster affected by this.

The pyrite remediation scheme was created by this Government. As of last week, over 150 properties are in the process of being remediated. The pyrite resolution board is the last resort when the developers are no more. These are some of the measures that would not have been possible but for the economic progress we have made over the past four years. This is the economic progress put in place through the actions of the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Brendan Howlin, as well as the entire Cabinet and several of the junior ministers who have done Trojan work in ensuring our economy rebounds from the terrible days I referred to earlier.

The next phase of recovery is not just about ensuring the people feel the benefit of the return on their investment in the banks and everything else. It is about ensuring they feel the benefit in their pockets. A full 12 months ahead of the projected target in the programme for Government, we have been able to assist a significant number of families across the State by giving them something back in the October 2014 budget which took effect from January this year.

We have heard figures being thrown around of between €1.2 billion and €1.5 billion, split 50:50 between tax decreases and increases in spending. I am confident that the next budget will assist all those families who have contributed so much and sacrificed so much over the last six or seven years.

I sincerely hope that the chaotic opposition that has been offered, particularly from Fianna Fáil, and the completely incoherent economic advice that is being given by Sinn Féin, will not be adopted by the electorate.

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