Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

When the Minister of State is called, he can reply, otherwise we will have to go into a form of Question Time.

It is important to raise a few issues about the framework. If we are looking beyond the horizon of 2040, we have to look beyond traditional forms of transport and infrastructure. We also have to consider what will be required to sustain communities, both rural and urban, to ensure quality of life. The key areas are health and education, particularly at first, second and third level. There must be investment in our health system. The population will dramatically increase by up to 1 million in the coming years. More people will live longer but will experience many more complications. The framework must take into account the many attributes that make up a positive society. Deputy Ó Cuív referred to a number of issues that will have to be examined, such as the urbanisation of our communities and how to ensure quality of life in these urban environments. Many of our urban environments, unfortunately, do not have the necessary infrastructure - such as crèche and education facilities, proper housing stock and other supports for community development - in place to allow them to prosper. We have to learn from the mistakes of the past. We cannot simply go into panic mode now and plan to build houses without proper strategic thinking. I can instance many large housing estates that were built in previous times in the absence of foresight or vision regarding what was required for sustainable communities.

We have to be ambitious and imaginative. We are at a critical juncture in our history. In previous times, political parties and Governments of all hues made bold leaps and took initiatives to expand the country's capacity. Now is the time to do that again. There will be a large increase in the population and that will require significant investment to ensure that the economy is competitive and that resources are maximised. One of the difficulties we have is the European budgetary system and the deficit targets that have to be met. We have to be able to write down capital investments over a longer period. I cannot understand why such investments have to be written down over four years. The cost of a hospital or road that might last 40 years has to be written down over four years in the context of budgetary arithmetic. That puts a huge brake on the capacity of the State to fund long-term critical infrastructure, such as roads, schools and hospitals, and it will retard the ability of the State to invest in itself on behalf of its citizens. I urge the Government to examine the budgetary process. There is a 10% cap on funding of infrastructure through PPPs. The reason I instance that is money can be borrowed on the markets at 0%. There is free money available in terms of interest rates. While we are pinched in the context of deficiencies in our capital infrastructure programme, now is the time not only to plan but to build infrastructure. The Government should use whatever political influence it has in Europe when negotiating the Brexit deal because we will be at a severe disadvantage because of Brexit and there might be an exemption from EU budgetary rules for countries that are well funded through their own budgetary process but that fall foul of EU laws if they invest in critical infrastructural developments and make a long-term investment in people to expand the capacity of an economy. That should be examined.

The Minister of State said this process started in February and many Members are being repetitive in asking for an extension. There are people outside the House who would like to make submissions in respect of the framework following the Minister's request and they should be accommodated in view of the fact that an additional few weeks will not make much difference. Let us be honest.

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