Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

As outlined by the Minister, the Government has taken significant action to support our key public services, particularly the health service, and to provide funding for workers and businesses impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. The estimated cost of these measures is approximately €16 billion. This leaves overall gross voted expenditure for the year at more than €86 billion.

The first phase of the expenditure response to the Covid-19 pandemic involved significant additional funding for the health service to support scaling up capacity in acute and community settings, for equipment such as ventilators and PPE and to secure the full capacity of private hospitals for a three-month period. In this phase, the emergency measures of the PUP and temporary wage subsidy scheme were also introduced to support workers and businesses. In early May, with significant restrictionson economic activity in place, there were almost 600,000 people in receipt of the PUP. In tandem with these income support schemes, a number of emergency business supports have also been introduced. These include liquidity supports, restart grants for businesses negatively impacted by Covid-19 and a commercial rates waiver.

The next phase of the Government's response seeks to minimise the potential longer-term effects of the crisis on our economy. By supporting the connection between workers and employers and providing targeted supports to business, the objective of policy has been to facilitate business restarts as public health restrictions are eased. Expanding on these initial supports, the July stimulus package includes a number of measures designed to support the economy as businesses and society reopen. The purpose of these measures is to provide additional targeted supports to stimulate activity across the economy, assist firms and support employment. Critically, the July stimulus package included the following measures: extending the PUP and wage subsidy scheme to the end of March next year; the provision of further grants to enterprises and an extension of the commercial rates waivers to six months; targeted investment programme in the life sciences and a specific tourism initiative; additional capital works across a number of sectors to support necessary infrastructure development.

Of critical importance is the fact that this Government recognises the impact that investment in our capital infrastructure can make on the lives of our citizens. To this end, job-rich projects that contribute to key missions of the Government, such as climate change or housing, have been targeted.

With a view to supporting better transport infrastructure across the country, the stimulus package for transport includes the following measures: €40 million for pedestrian infrastructure; €42 million to support urban and rural cyclists; €21 million towards improving rail journeys; and €10 million for the adaptation of the road network to protect it from climate change.

With regard to housing, 2,000 social housing units will be targeted for refurbishment in order to be re-let to individuals and families struggling with homelessness or who may be on the social housing list. Further to this, housing retrofitting is a major part of the Government's climate action plan. In light of this, as part of the July stimulus, an additional €100 million has been committed in 2021 to the energy efficiency national retrofit programme. This will double the overall impact of the programme in 2021 and will provide certainty to the industry regarding the Government's ambition in and commitment to this area, thus encouraging a focus on long-term capacity building for the remainder of this year.

More broadly, looking forward, delivering on our commitments on capital investment will be important in supporting the recovery in the economy. In this regard, the Government recommitted to the previously published gross voted capital expenditure amount of €9.1 billion for next year in the July stimulus plan. This represents an increase of €1 billion on the capital expenditure amount for 2020 set out in the Revised Estimates for public services 2020, published in December last year. In this regard, the decision to bring forward the review of the national development plan from 2022 is of critical importance. In carrying out this review, it is important to note that this Government has committed to recognising the importance of balanced regional development, clustered and compact growth and improved connectivity to deliver economic prosperity and environmental sustainability. The review will include an overview of the macroeconomic context and justification for the planned level of expenditure, taking into account demand and supply side constraints. This is critically important as enhanced investment in new infrastructure, such as new healthcare centres, schools, affordable housing units, public transport and renewable energy will create jobs and deliver tangible assets that will fuel the long-term economic growth we need to help restore our public finances and improve the delivery of public services for our citizens.

See this speech in context