Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I, too, welcome the chance to speak on the summer economic statement but the reality is that, today, Brexit hangs over this debate like Banquo's ghost. When we gather on Monday for the national economic dialogue, we will have a result and we will, hopefully, have a sense of direction from the Government as to how that result will be dealt with because, whatever happens, there must be change at the heart of Europe and the European economy. I have felt for some time that the Government has not prepared for the eventuality of a Brexit. We will need, in the event of a British decision to leave, an immediate and rapid response involving a roadmap as to how the Government will deal with it. If we do not see that, this document and debate will be irrelevant. The budgetary figures and the figures contained within it will all have to be reviewed and recast in the light of the new environment.

I welcome the decision to increase investment in capital expenditure and while I note there is still a commitment to the review in 2017, I repeat my earlier call that this review needs now to be brought forward, particularly in light of the increased envelope of spending. Investment in infrastructure is an effective means of ensuring that everybody feels the benefits of the recovery. Every region should feel the benefits of the recovery, from new hospitals and roads to a proper national broadband scheme, public transport and a range of other projects. The previous Government's capital plan, as presented last year, fell well short of achieving that and Ireland now lags behind the OECD average with the quality of our infrastructure dropping four places to twenty-fourth in 2015. Efficient infrastructure, in telecommunications, energy, transport, water and broadband, is vital to support national competitiveness and employment. While there appears to be a multitude of reasons for the decline in the quality of infrastructure, notably the maintenance nature of the previous capital programme, we must ensure that we begin rapidly to catch up, and I reiterate my call for a review of the current capital plan. According to IBEC estimates, 95% of capital expenditure is currently on maintenance. That sets the challenge of the limits of the current capital plan. It would be to the benefit of that plan, if that review was brought forward and if the kind of dialogue the Minister wants with the Oireachtas, but also with various partners, was engaged in at an early stage so that there could be a sharing of information and ideas around a capital plan that would deliver, both to the people and the regions regardless of where they were, value for money.

The capital plan is also the element of the summer economic statement that provides employment and employment opportunities. I thought one of the benefits of leaving the spokesmanship on enterprise - I am sure Deputy Cullinane would agree - would be that the cheerleading around the jobs action plan would stop or I would not have to hear as much about it. I did not realise that the three Ministers, as cheerleaders, were as good as the former Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Richard Bruton, around the nature of that plan. The plan should be tied in to the capital plan in terms of both regional delivery and employment delivery of projects. That employment delivery should be attached to fair employment laws and conditions. The delivery of the capital programme should be attached to whatever projects can deliver in terms of employment creation, as well as in terms of regional competitiveness. Finally, I say to the Minister of State, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, that it is essential that we bring in reforms through our procurement laws so that small companies get the benefit of investment in the capital plan and access to tenders for various projects in it because our procurement rules are frightening small companies away at present. We may deliver both a capital plan and additional expenditure, but it must mean something for SMEs as well and that is the instrument by which we can deliver on it.

Public sector pay was referred to by the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, and his remarks were important. We support the Lansdowne Road agreement and it is beginning to deliver. However, it is important that the commitment the Minister gave, in terms of the public sector pay commission, is moved forward rapidly. The summer economic statement does not contain any provision for a post-Lansdowne Road agreement scenario and over the course of its implementation in the next five years, I hope there will be a replacement agreement and a structure put in place. We need to begin that process quickly because 2017 will not be long coming upon us. If the Minister wants the kind of dialogue and engagement he aspires to, the process of establishing the commission and its work should be got under way without any further delay. We want to see issues of equal treatment for newly recruited staff in the public sector, particularly those in education and in An Garda Síochána, dealt with as a matter of priority over the next number of weeks and months as the commission starts its work.

The public sector has contributed a significant amount to the recovery. The recovery and the sacrifice the Minister spoke about has crystalised in terms of extra productivity but also lower wages, and they need to be a partner in the recovery in the fullest sense. I welcome the reports this morning that negotiations are under way with An Garda Síochána around a new framework. The work done by the Minister, Deputy Donohoe's predecessor in terms of the fire service workers has giving us a vehicle and an opportunity to begin rewarding and restoring more staff, and that needs to be increased.

One criticism I have relates to the programme for Government. The summer economic plan is laid out, but the programme for Government that comes with it is not costed and has a range of commitments that are not timed. We get no sense of how they connect with the economic plan. The funding made available, as Deputy Michael McGrath stated, has as much to do with changes in rules as anything else and in many areas, that funding is badly needed. However, what we have within the programme for Government is a range of ambitions and promises without a timeline and costings. For example, the Minister said that the Government housing plan will be published later in the year but we have a plan published by an Oireachtas all-party committee last Friday last which should offer a framework in that regard. It will be a test of the seriousness of this Government about taking the views of the Oireachtas on board regarding how much of that action plan, the development of which was shared by Deputies, including the Acting Chairman, Deputy Durkan, from all parties, is enacted.

Housing is merely one issue. The health service is another issue. The Minister increased the Estimate again last week and that proved the point my colleague, Deputy Kelleher, has consistently made that the Estimates process for the health service over the past five years was, at best, flawed and, at worst, an annual lie for the amount that had to be provided in Supplementary Estimates. That provision is no longer available and unless that funding delivers on waiting lists, emergency rooms and services to patients, it will have been for nought. The Minister made commitments a number of weeks ago about performance budgeting and how that funding will be delivered and make people's lives better. I would like to see those proposals brought forward as soon as possible so that we get a sense before the recess of how the effectiveness of this funding will be measured. The HSE and the Department of Health need to get their act together when it comes to budgeting for the health service because the people who are paying for their ineptitude in that regard are patients and those on waiting lists and that must stop. I look forward to the Minister's proposals in that regard.

The notion of fairness was at the heart of the recent election campaign and was one of the reasons the Ministers' party returned with so many fewer Deputies. Fairness must be at the heart of the delivery of this programme in terms of its ability to deliver better outcomes for people, as I stated, in health, education, our public services, growing communities facing the brunt of crime and for regional communities. Just because one lives in Dublin, one should not benefit from an economic recovery or enjoy the consequences of the recovery while other communities are shut down.

The Minister spoke about the reform of public services, but this should not mean withdrawal of public services. Reform has been the mantra for many public service changes in recent years. There has been the withdrawal of services from weak communities, regional communities and communities within this city in the interest of putting services online. We need to come up with a public service modernisation programme that involves people and puts people's interest, rather than the interest of accountants within the Civil Service, at the heart of it. That is public service transformation. The delivery of better service does not mean the withdrawal of services. That is a trend that we need to take control of also.

Deputy Michael McGrath has spoken about the microeconomy and we have a large macroeconomic statement. On Monday and Tuesday next, the Minister will get an indication of the micro problem, of people's home economy and of the economy in education and health when he meets Departments. Unless this plan, the tax strategy papers and the final budgetary process end up delivering for people in their homes as well as for the country, this budget process reform will be for nought.

Unless we deliver a whole-of-government approach to improving people's financial circumstances not just at budget time, but with the costs they face on a daily basis and which they cannot control such as pressure within schools, universities and hospitals, economic recovery will be a concept alien to the majority of the population. We must not forget the goal of a fairer system of employment and more robust employment law for those in weak jobs. One lesson to be learned from the tenure of the previous Government is that it is not just the Departments of Finance or Public Expenditure and Reform that have a role in delivering recovery; it must be an entire whole-of-government approach. Until this is done, the notion of a recovery will continue to be something that the majority of households and people do not see, as they still live with the consequences of the cuts in expenditure from recent years.

This will be the test of budget reform. Budget day may not have the big bang announcement any more but we will see how measures have an impact on households not just with income tax and services, but across a range of costs felt by people. If people feel their life is better on 1 January next year, as the measures from budget 2017 kick in, we will have had some input into the process. We will have engaged people in the macroeconomic recovery.

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