Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I commend Deputy Howlin on raising this question because the absence of the council goes to the heart of what is wrong in the country in some respects, namely, the lack of independent thinking. The NESC has done a good job over the years. It has not been willing to play the role of ideological advocacy that some in this House might want it to do but it has helped work to get to some sort of common vision about where we as a society should go on different sectors of the economy. The NESC works best when it focuses on being expert and independent, setting out the realistic challenges and options. Something we are missing at present is enough independent voices in public debate.

The growing crisis in industrial relations speaks to a lack of an overall sense of direction in the country in terms of strategic objectives. There have been all sorts of demands made, left, right and centre. We have the Brexit challenge which still remains the most fundamental single major change in our economic model in 45 years since we joined the European Union with Britain. Britain leaving the EU now is fundamental. I would have thought there was a strong role for the National Economic and Social Council in scenarios such as Brexit, the public pay issue, and the anti-globalisation or protectionist trends that are now emerging in many countries in Europe and the United States. These call for a mid-term review, something which the NESC was always quite engaged in.

It is many years since the NESC prepared a comprehensive medium-term review. Will the Taoiseach ensure the NESC is working as effectively as possible and will he take steps? In his answers to Deputy Howlin he was not quite saying that he will get it going again. I would ask the Taoiseach, if he is doing so, to consider that small to medium-sized companies might usefully fall within the remit of the NESC. There has always been a sense that the particular needs of small and medium-sized enterprises were not adequately catered for by the NESC.

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