Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

What has happened now is that the Government has started to make that investment. We have set up a working group to outline the overall strategic needs of An Garda Síochána in relation to ICT. It is really important to have that plan in place. The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Brendan Howlin, and I will shortly announce a new multi-annual capital investment framework for the ICT needs of An Garda Síochána, which deserves it. We are able to do that because of the management of the economy. If one does not have economic stability, one cannot make investments and deal with these priority issues. Economic stability is essential if one wants to have the kind of social investment so many people have been talking about in the course of this debate. If one does not have the kind of economic stability this country has brought about, one will not be able to make the investment in those frontline services Deputies have been speaking about in the House tonight. The increased investment in An Garda Síochána will ensure a sustainable future for the force which is critical to meet the realities and challenges of 21st century policing and security.

Increased investment has only been possible because of the efforts we have made in restoring balance to our public finances. It is possible because we have reduced the budget deficit from an unsustainable 13% in 2011 to under 3% this year. It is possible because we are leading on an economic recovery built on increasing employment. Unlike what has been said in the House, 95,000 real jobs have been added from the low point in 2011. We have moved from a period of retrenchment and adjustment to a period of growth and expansion. Growth will hit 4% this year with steady, stable economic growth of 3% in the years to come. As such, we can look forward with hope. There is much work to be done and we have never said the job is complete. We have always said this is a beginning, but we can look forward and continue to build our public services. We can support Irish families, ease the tax burden on Irish workers, make work pay, help our most vulnerable citizens and build a more just and fair society. That is what we want to do. Those are our ongoing goals.

We have never said the job is complete. While we can look forward with hope, we must do so with caution. Recovery has been hard won and the hard won gains must be protected. We need discipline and we need honesty. That is what the Spring Economic Statement is about. It is about a new budgetary framework where the parameters, constraints and options are put out there. We should be clear that this is done in many other countries which take an opportunity to lay out the parameters as the Ministers, Deputies Noonan and Howlin, did yesterday. There has been criticism of it here, but it is only right that it is done on the floor of the Dáil. It is the right thing to do to put all the facts and figures in the public arena and to highlight exactly what the choices are. By opening up this process to more transparency and scrutiny, we will avoid what we saw in the lead-up to general election in 2002 when voted expenditure jumped 27% in the preceding five months. We saw that pattern again with a 10% increase in expenditure in the lead-up to the 2007 poll. The party responsible, which is now making allegations about the buying of elections, should reflect on the contribution of its profligate pre-election expenditure to the catastrophic fiscal crisis in which the State found itself from 2008 onwards. Short-termism of such an excessive scale will not be repeated by this Government.

What we outlined yesterday is responsible and sustainable. While we will increase funding for important public services and ease the income tax and USC burdens on working people, we will do so without risking all we have rebuilt and gained through the hard work and support of the Irish people. This could not have been done without the support we have got from the Irish people. We will work to take a constructive, responsible approach to reversing the pay cuts imposed on the public sector. I welcome the invitation issued yesterday to the public service unions to engage in discussing an approach to unwinding the FEMPI legislation.

The Department of Justice and Equality is committed to playing its part in supporting our national economic recovery. I note quickly some points on the role immigration can play in encouraging economic activity through the promotion of inward investment and attracting both tourists and business persons to come to Ireland. The immigrant investor and the start-up entrepreneur programmes have an important role to play. The new British-Irish visa scheme, which allows visitors from the very large economies of China and India to secure a single visa which enables free movement within the UK and Ireland common travel area, has already resulted in a considerable increase in visitors from those countries.

In conclusion, the spring economic statement represents an important staging post on the long road to recovery.

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It represents a moment for reflection on the decisions which have got us this point on that road and the decisions which are before us. We now have an opportunity to continue this journey. There is more work to be done to create more jobs, invest more in public services and reduce the tax burden.

I commend the statement to the House.

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