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

I thank the Taoiseach for his reply. The programme for Government is 155 pages long and contains many recommendations and commitments, some of which, dare I say it, will never see the light of day. They were included anyway. The commitments in respect of the health service are particularly worrying. I ask the Taoiseach to comment on the assertion by the director general of the Health Service Executive last week to the effect that he needed €9 billion for capital infrastructure. The Taoiseach may raise his eyebrows, but that is what was stated in relation to the deficits in health infrastructure, which are real. In terms of the operation of the health budget this year, real questions marks exist over whether we got a proper assessment of the needs of the health servicevis-à-visthe money allocated because the service has been left short very quickly in the new year. The bed capacity issue is flailing around the place and there has been no real focus on it or a coherent approach to it. Approximately €9 million of new money has been allocated to acute hospitals for new services and it is arguable that it will go nowhere. I acknowledge the allocation earlier last year in terms of balancing the budget, but there are still serious issues in relation to health. It seems the director general of the HSE is laying down a very strong marker.

If one looks at funding for A Vision for Change on mental health, it is our view that the relevant part of our confidence and supply agreement has not been upheld. When the budget was announced, it was indicated that there would be full funding for A Vision for Change but in the end it emerged in reply to Deputy Browne's questions that only €15 million was going to be made available this year for mental health commitments. That falls well short of the commitment announced in the budget by the Minister, Deputy Paschal Donohoe, himself. That was bad form and it sent a very wrong signal to the mental health community and those with concerns about mental health because it illustrated a somewhat cynical approach. We will pretend it is €35 million but in essence it is actually only €15 million. That kind of sleight of hand is unacceptable in relation to a sensitive issue such as mental health and we will be engaging further with the Government on that.

Can the Taoiseach indicate when the Seanad reform implementation group will be established? It is to implement the Manning report. It should be put in place forthwith. On the budgetary process, there is meant to be an independent office. While the Oireachtas is working on it, it is still not established. The reports of the fiscal council do not get due attention from the Government. It is interesting to note that in the general election last year the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, said the fiscal space was €500 million. Fast forwarding to just before the budget was announced, the Government found €300 million in the space of a week, which took us to approximately €1.3 billion. We have now found in the first week of January a further €120 million. The election took place in February last year, the budget was passed in October and we are now at a fiscal space of €1.4 billion and climbing. Questions must be asked about the veracity of all of that. I put it to the Taoiseach that the commitment we have made to an independent budgetary office and proper recognition of the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council must be looked at far more seriously than appears to be the case right now.

I turn to appointments to State boards. We had the extraordinary revelations in the Sunday Independentnewspaper about the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Shane Ross, and the former Minister, Liz O'Donnell, in the Road Safety Authority. I am not against Ministers being particularly attentive to detail, but the rounding on the Road Safety Authority for its lack of grammatical precision and some spelling mistakes was a bridge too far in terms of the Minister's engagement with a very serious authority which has had a significant impact on the reduction of deaths and injuries on our roads. He seems to have a particular problem with appointing State boards and members to them notwithstanding the reforms which have taken place. He seems to be picking needless fights and undermining the morale and contribution of boards to society through the kinds of needless row revealed by the Sunday Independent. I ask the Taoiseach whether the Minister has a some sort of waiver in terms of the implementation of programme for Government commitments. Is he exempt from having to comply with basic standard agreements and Government policy on appointments to State boards? What is the position?

Likewise, I refer to the commitments in the programme for Government in terms of public transport. It is extraordinary that the Minister was in a position to brief the Cabinet today on the Bus Éireann dispute. It must have been a very brief briefing given the fact that the Minister said himself that he had not seen or read the report. Every worker in Bus Éireann is very much aware of the report and is worried about its implications for their working conditions and status, the status of the company and the overall Government strategy on public transport. Is the Government committed as per the programme for Government to public transport in principle? Is it committed to basic standards in wages in public transport? In the modern world with pay inequality, it is an important point. All analysis globally shows that there has been a growth in inequality between the corporates, multinationals and big industry and people who are working. We need to be very careful about going down a particular route. It is grand to privatise everything but one ends up with everyone on a very low threshold of wages. As such, we need a debate in the House. The ESRI has previously done some work on the issue and raised concerns about it. It is a global issue and it is one that affects us in the State. Given the grave implications of the Grant Thornton report, I was very taken aback by the Taoiseach's revelation this afternoon that the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport had not actually read a core report relating to Bus Éireann and which people read on the front page of The Irish Times.

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