Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an díospóireacht seo. Déanaim comhghairdeas leis an Aire agus leis an Aire Stáit as na róil nua atá acu. Ní bhfuair mé deis é sin a rá ar urlár na Dála roimhe seo.

Léiríonn an phaindéim seo dúinn go bhfuil sé ar chumas an Stáit bogadh go gasta le ioncaim, le sláinte agus le postanna a chosaint má tá an toil ann. While the level of spending to confront this threat has been considerable, it is not unparalleled and we should remind ourselves of that. On previous occasions, the State poured €44 billion into the banks a decade ago, following a famous era of Government mismanagement. In comparison, the State committed an additional €7.8 billion in expenditure to respond to Covid-19 to the end of August of this year. So, as we begin to hear some of the usual voices bang the drum of deficit reduction and fiscal prudence, this comparison from ten years ago is worth bearing in mind. To be clear, the additional expenditure in our economy and public services was not an option; it was simply necessary. The alternative was social and economic ruin. Had the Department of Health not spent an additional €1.2 billion to the end of August, the consequences for our health, our citizens, those at risk and our healthcare workers would have been devastating.

Had the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection not spent an additional €6.2 billion to the end of August, the 600,000 people who had lost their jobs throughout this period would have faced tremendous hardship. That is the context in which we must view additional expenditures to respond to the Covid-19 crisis. It was not an option; it was a necessity. I also wish to note that the conditions for such spending have been particularly favourable for this State with the cost of borrowing at historic low levels. We know that the NTMA has issued €21 billion in bonds this year with an average yield of 0.25% and that is welcome. Some of the most recent issuances, as Deputy Farrell pointed out, have been at negative interest rates. These conditions are likely to continue and the capacity of the State to manage and increase stock of public debt in a sustainable manner will be largely determined by this Government's ability to protect incomes and invest in the future in a prudent way.

Spending across all Vote groups to the end of August stood at €52 billion, which is 18% ahead of the pre-pandemic profile. The increase in expenditure was mostly driven, as we know, from current expenditure, with health and social protection comprising most of the increases. Since the beginning of the pandemic a number of schemes and additional supports were introduced by the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection, including the pandemic unemployment payment, PUP, the temporary wage subsidy scheme and recently, unfortunately, the new, flawed employment wage subsidy scheme. The pandemic unemployment payment was introduced to ensure that workers and families did not face an income cliff brought about by a sudden and unexpected unemployment. The very introduction of this payment was itself recognition by this House and society that the existing social protection system was not fit for purpose. To date, payments totalling €3.5 billion have been made under PUP, reflecting the damage caused to jobs and to incomes.

Figures recently published by EUROSTAT show that Ireland suffered the second highest job losses in Europe from April to July this year. The figure in this regard is twice the European average. While the virus is the same across Europe at different levels and different degrees, the consequence here in this State has been twice as many jobs losses than the European average. As Deputy Farrell outlined, we are second only to Spain in terms of topping the league. Ós rud é go bhfuil an ráta dífhostaíochta is airde ar fud na hEorpa againn mar gheall ar Covid-19, caithfidh sé nach bhfuil ag éirí go maith leis an Rialtas maidir leis seo.

With the possibility of stricter public health measures in the time ahead, unemployment is likely to remain persistently high. This will be exasperated, in my view, by the new employment wage subsidy scheme. The temporary wage subsidy scheme was a crucial policy measure and one that Sinn Féin supported. Having submitted our proposals to the Minister for Finance in mid-March of this year, we worked constructively with him to address the deficiencies. We were successful in ensuring that there was an increase in rent supplement for lower income workers and also to ensure that women returning from maternity leave were not locked out of the scheme. By the end of August, it had provided €2.8 billion in crucial supports to 663,000 employees and 65,000 employers. Then came 1 September and a new scheme has been introduced to replace the old one that will run to the end of March 2021. I have concerns in regard to the design of this scheme, which I have raised previously in the Dáil with the Minister and I raised again earlier this evening. It is outrageous that 153,000 workers, those who are the lowest income earners in this State and earn below €151.50, are completely locked out of this scheme. Not one cent of support will come from Government for those workers to their employers. That is scandalous. I also believe that the cuts to the level of wage supports of other workers through their employers is not warranted given the economic shock and situation we are in. The scheme amounts to a blanket reduction in wage support, failing to take into account the unequal impact of public health measures across our economy. While it is claimed that this will generate savings to the State, in my view this scheme will cost the State because jobs that could have been saved will be lost and businesses that could have been rescued will close or go into liquidation and close. I am, therefore, calling on the Minister to change course in government to end the blanket reduction in wage supports that give no regard to the unequal impact felt across the sector and that locks 153,000 workers out of the scheme.

We know that the health Vote to the end of August was up €1.2 billion above its pre-pandemic profile, with the majority of additional spending arising from acute hospital care, procurement of PPE and community care. The level of additional expenditure in our health service is not a fiscal concern but is a public health requirement. If we are to contain the spread of the virus, further spending and investment will be required for the remainder of 2020 and the years ahead. I will reiterate a point I made already because it needs to be made. The reason we have such severe restrictions in this State is because we under-invested in our health system for well over a decade. We have a serious issue of capacity, which is one of the factors in terms of what type of restrictions will be placed on society. That is a problem and we need to rectify it. We can never again find ourselves in a situation where our health system is so weak such strict impositions have to be placed on communities, people and businesses.

I echo what has been said by my colleague, Deputy Farrell, on the future direction. We need to see an end to the fiscal conservatism in respect not only of this year's budget but beyond. We need to take a leaf out of the book of some of the governments across Europe. The French Prime Minister was mentioned earlier by my colleague in regard to the €100 billion recovery plan announced, €5 billion of it in railway infrastructure, €7 billion in retrofitting and €30 billion in social cohesion projects, including employment projects and skills training for the French youth. In Germany, a €130 billion recovery plan was announced in June. This is the type of path we need to follow. We need to ensure that the things that were failed by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael over the past ten years are rectified. Let us build the houses to house our people. Let us fix the capacity issue in our hospitals. Let us make sure that life is affordable for ordinary people and let us make sure that we continue to support businesses in a real and adequate way and that there is a proper social security net for those who fall on hard times.

I am disappointed that the Minister is bragging about a €9 billion capital investment. It is not near what we need in this year's budget, it needs to go way above that. There are shovel ready projects that need the go-ahead at this point in time. I give the example of Finn Harps stadium in Donegal. More than €1.2 million was spent on it by Government years ago. It is lying idle now with grass growing over it. It is shovel ready and has planning permission. It could lead to a return to work for people in a county that has the highest level of unemployment per proportion of people on the pandemic unemployment payment but the Government will not sanction it. Instead, it leaves the €1.2 million spent withering on the ground. This is not acceptable. These types of projects exist across the State. This is the way we can get our people back to work. We need to get the economy going and we need to invest our way out of the difficulties we have at this point in time.

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