Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It feels a bit pointless to be talking about a new Government plan, especially one with such a long-term aim, because this Government is great for planning but very poor at implementation. Maybe we need a plan to deliver on all the other promises the Government has made. A Vision for Change is 11 years old and we are far from implementing that, while our community services are not in place. This Government does business by press statements, column inches, headlines and executive summaries, which are far more important than addressing the fundamental failings in our society or focusing on the people affected. Where is the plan to address the growing poverty in our country? This certainly is not it.

Much of the talk around the plan is that it is to address population growth in the future, as if we were anywhere near meeting current demand for the most basic things such as a home, health care, education and a decent standard of living. This is a plan for tomorrow, which is fine but the hundreds of thousands of people in this State experiencing serious hardship need a plan for today and they need action. With this Government, the problems will always be fixed tomorrow and we know where tomorrow goes.

Our existing infrastructure is falling apart because the Government refuses to invest. In my area of east Cork, the roads are in a drastic state outside the major routes, with councils paying out damages to motorists. The headline is good for the Government and €116 billion seems a very impressive sum, but is it impressive? Over 23 years, it is just €5 billion a year. Some 10% of the money is said to be going to housing but, given how little the State has spent on housing in the past few years, this is the very least we should be spending. In any case, it does not amount to much over 23 years, during which time the population will grow and grow.

I welcome the €1 billion for flood defences but I wonder if it is enough. We must consider the massive need for new housing, regional urban development, population growth and the impending severe and dangerous weather conditions brought on by climate change, not to mention the fact that flood defences are completely insufficient to deal with the problems we have currently. There is €500 million for the Defence Forces but this is not so that the members of the Defence Forces can be paid a living wage, rather than having to survive on the scraps of family income supplement, FIS, and other payments as they bravely serve our country with honour. I expect that the money is to live up to the growing demand of Europe that we join its army and engage in the imperial rattling of old Europe. No thanks. That is not development as anyone else might see it. The bottom line is that the Government cannot be trusted to do what it says in its press releases. This plan is a glossy press release by a do-nothing Government which treats the Irish people like they are fools.

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