Dáil debates

Wednesday, 14 October 2020

Financial Resolutions 2020 - Financial Resolution No. 7: General (Resumed)

 

1:30 pm

Photo of Eamon RyanEamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I am very pleased and proud to follow the Taoiseach and Tánaiste in setting out my thoughts on the budget. It is a collective effort and an example of parties in government working well together. There are differences and difficulties but we have knuckled down at this time because our job is to protect the Irish people and that overcomes any immediate political differences. This wish to protect the people is something that should and does unite us in government and I think it also unites this House. In this crisis, we do not differ on that point. I have not heard anybody saying that it is not the correct approach to borrow from the future - from our children, I suppose, or from future years - to protect our people now. That is the right thing to do not only on the principle of protecting our people but it is also, fortunately, the prudent economic approach. It is the proper economic strategy to take at a time of crisis, when people are fearful, private spending contracts and investment stops, that the State should step up to invest and borrow for the future. That is what we are doing.

The first and most important consideration is to protect our people in the here and now. To that end, the significant €4 billion increase in funding for the health service is absolutely appropriate. That funding will go both to immediate Covid measures and also to strengthening and improving our health system in a way that will have long-term implications and give long-term benefits to our people in the form of additional capacity, additional beds and, we hope, additional skills and new ways of doing things that will help us manage the immediate crisis and also protect us into the future. It was particularly important in this budget that we prioritised looking after and protecting our people in the widest sense. In that context, my party is particularly pleased that there is a significant increase in funding for services for people with disabilities. That is an aspiration and interest shared with all parties in this House. It was important that we delivered on that aspiration and now it is important that the money is spent wisely and well so that this republic of ours is one where we really do look after every citizen to the best of our ability and in a way that brings out the best of their abilities. There is a whole series of different policy priorities implementing the national maternity care strategy and other key strategies. In particular, there has been a broad welcome in the House, which is shared by our party, that we have been able to give an additional €38 million allocation to mental health. At this time of crisis, when people are fearful, individuals' mental health is probably suffering more than anything else and it is the area where we most need to offer protection.

The second protection that is delivered in this budget - it is not an easy one but it is a key one - is protection against poverty. It is especially not easy at this time, when jobs are being lost and incomes are uncertain, but there is a series of measures in the budget, particularly the greener aspects of it, which fundamentally meet that objective. The way in which the carbon tax has been introduced this year, and has been set for the next eight to nine years in the measures agreed last night, stitches a security into the measure that it will be poverty proofed. This will ensure the revenues are ring-fenced in such a way that the measure will not lead to a deterioration in the situation of people, particularly those on low income, who suffer from or face the prospect of fuel poverty.

It is very significant that the Minister, Deputy Michael McGrath, said yesterday that it is clearly and demonstrably the Government position that this is not a tax to raise revenue, but it is to give a signal that we need to make a switch to a cleaner and less polluting way in how we spend our money, what energy and transport systems we use, and what industrial systems evolve in our country. It is clear and agreed, and is now set as custom which will be repeated year in, year out in increasing carbon tax, that roughly one third of the revenue will go towards protecting against poverty. This is hugely important and significant. The way it was done yesterday, in targeting the qualified child allowance, the living alone allowance and the fuel allowance, is the best and right mix of targeting those who suffer from extreme poverty at the lower end of the income distribution chain.

Added to, and helping, that were the huge investments committed to in the budget from the carbon tax and other sources, towards protecting people from fuel poverty in a much more fundamental, long-term way. These investments will give people the option of not having to burn fossil fuels and not having to spend tight revenue on fossil fuels and instead will give them a warm and healthy home, which is probably one of the greatest comforts if a person happens to live in one. This is the best protection against poverty and the best way to improve health.

The fact that the huge increase in money available for retrofitting, two thirds of which is targeted towards social housing and lower income households, is a second major protection for people who may be vulnerable to fuel poverty. It is of huge significance. If we can deliver this €50 billion project over the next 20 years, where we go to every Irish home to carry out this sensible and intelligent policy, which I believe is not a not divisive strategy, and where every single Irish home is fit for this cold climate of ours, what an outcome that would be for the people of our country. It is not beyond our bounds to have no fuel poverty. Much healthier outcomes for people who have asthma, cardiac and other health conditions would radically improve when people can live in a warm and comfortable home. The Minister, Deputy Simon Harris, is starting this with the training of up 1,500 apprentices with skills in that area, which will grow and expand. This is a doable and achievable project for the next four or five Governments. I do not believe the policy will change because it makes such sense. It will be popular, it will be successful and it will be adopted by the Irish people. As more houses insulate, put a solar panel on the roof, and put in the heat pump at the side, it will be a winning combination. Our companies are good at this, our workers will be very good at this and our households will like this. We started this in the budget yesterday.

A further protection presented in the budget is for security for many of our younger people. The Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy O'Gorman, having received huge advances in the July stimulus to support the childcare sector, has targeted and focused his additional budget supports for the protection of younger people. In the huge increase in the budget for Tusla, we seek to protect the most vulnerable young people who often need very intensive care and support from the State when they are in difficult circumstances.

There was the decision to further widen that sense of who we seek to protect by bringing in young people with refugee status and others who are coming from traumatic circumstances, by saying that we will invest. Ireland has international obligations and recognises those. We sit on the UN Security Council not just to expand our own immediate short-term interests, but to espouse a form of multilateralism that the world needs at this time. It is important that we back this up by increasing our overseas aid budget, by saying we will look after those young people who are in greater stress and difficulty on the far distant shores of Europe, and that we would give them a safe refuge and welcome here

Less notice was paid to, but it is important to note, the money that will be invested in our young people, and particularly in those who are just starting in third level education. These young people are going to college but there is no sense of collegiality and no sense of connection. That is a real problem. The grant and the support is for students to try to provide that connectivity and to encourage the colleges to provide connectivity in whatever way they can, and not just do recorded online and Zoom lectures. This will mean that college learning and apprenticeship days are not lost for students. This was important as a statement of where we want to go.

The Government has three key aims to invest in health, housing and climate, but the other key measure for young people in the budget was the commitment and the additional funding to roll out housing, social housing, cost-rental housing and private housing supports in a variety of ways. I believe this is a critical way we can protect our young people in order that they can have a viable future and a sense they can settle down and raise a family because they will be able to build and create their own home. That is critical. This is where the strategic decisions were made, but they were difficult decisions. Anyone could rightly argue that some areas should have received further funding but I believe we are right to stick to the core mission of the Government to invest in health, housing and climate to make this moment one of change. While there are real challenges and real difficulties, it can be used as a turning point to deliver that more secure future for our people.

The budget also invests significantly in protecting nature and in starting to do that. We know that the ultimate security for people will not be guaranteed unless we address the biodiversity and climate crisis we face. While he has not set out the details yet, I was very glad that my colleague, the Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy Noonan, has seen a significant increase in funding for the National Parks and Wildlife Service and in his area. We need that attention to the protection of our land, our nature and our natural systems. We are connected to it; we are not separate. We are all enriched by the return of biodiversity. We urgently need to undo and reverse the dramatic loss of water quality and loss of biodiversity on our island over the past 50 years. The Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, is in a key position and is well resourced to help expand, encourage and support the National Parks and Wildlife Service as it sets about that task.

I now turn to the third area for allocation from the carbon tax that is now set in our programme for Government. I would find it hard to believe that any future Government would not follow such a similar course. The three areas of investment include social protection through the welfare system and through investing in retrofitting our buildings. The third area of investment is in the restoration of biodiversity in our agricultural systems. This is what was delivered yesterday. It was a significant moment in the history of the Green Party. The Minister of State, Senator Hackett, and the Minister, Deputy McConalogue, now have a budget where we can focus on asking farmers to actually engage their real skills and expertise in habitat creation and in restoring nature in their own corners and in the right places within the fields on their farms. That will grow and will have profound consequences for the long-term future of our country. It gives those young people going into farming a key role and the skills for these great challenges of our time. It will give them an income as they do so.

It did not stop there. Various measures were set out by the Minister of State, Senator Hackett, this morning. It is not just about habitat creation. It is also about a radical improvement. Thanks to this budget we expect some 500 new organic farmers to go into operation next year. There is a 50% increase in the horticulture budget, which we know we need so we can stop importing all our horticulture and start growing it ourselves. We can do this at home in Ireland. Some 50,000 farmers will benefit from new biodiversity health and safety training. This is thinking long term and investing for the future by upskilling our farmers to give them a central role in how we tackle the biodiversity crisis. It does this in a way that is sophisticated, smart farming. This is where farmers are going and what they are already doing, and what they are stepping up to do.

There is further investment, along with the investment from my Department, in the rehabilitation of 4,000 ha of peatlands. This is the best and most efficient way of storing carbon. Learning from the first steps and then scaling it up is the best way we can meet the 7% target. Restoring peatlands is 20% of our land. That is where we can meet the climate targets in a way that protects biodiversity, creates employment and pays farmers for the key job and important skilled work that needs to be done now.

A national soil survey will be conducted across 16,000 farms as part of the smart farming development initiative and will get down to a really local level. We we will meet our climate targets through scientific, highly skilled, nature-based farming, and that is what was committed to in the budget yesterday. I was particularly proud of that section among the many changes that were announced.

Funding will also be provided for a national land review as committed to in the programme for Government. That will be centre stage and critical to the future of forestry, farming and rural Ireland. It is at the centre of any land use review or plan. It will form the basis of our plan to create jobs for young people throughout this country in a much more balanced, stable and secure way. We will create jobs for which people are well paid for their vital skills. That is the green recovery that is ahead of us and that is what is being funded in this budget. It will give people confidence that we can do it step by step. Going green is good for people. That is what we seek to achieve. It is not a cost or a burden; it is a better way for a better future for all the people of our country.

I mentioned retrofitting in relation to energy, and transport is also important in this regard. Progress here will take time because it takes time to build transport systems, to get through the planning process, but we are starting now. There is a clear sense of direction in two or three ways. First, it requires electrifying everything. If we are going to reach zero carbon in transport, we must remove diesel, gasoline and other fossil fuels and use our own renewable electricity instead. That is why we are going to support the taxi industry with a scrappage scheme that will allow drivers to convert to the really high-quality new cars which will start coming on to the market. An historic order is coming from Irish Rail so that our train carriages will be run by electricity and electric battery rather than by diesel. We are making changes to the VRT system to make it cheaper and easier to switch to these new cars. The changes are not meant to be punitive or revenue raising. They are necessary to comply with international law and because we want to send a signal that it is cheaper and easier to make the leap towards an electric transport system.

Another important trend in the transformation of transport is the return to the concept of local. One of the opportunities arising from this cursed virus is the restoration of life at the centre of local villages, towns and city suburbs. I refer to the 15-minute city concept, which is the opposite of what we have seen in this country for decades, with ever lengthening commutes, ever further sprawl and ever longer time stuck in traffic, which is not good for anyone's wealth, health or happiness. Instead, we are trying to bring life and jobs back to local areas by creating local active transport systems. We have committed €360 million in this budget for such systems, which is only a start but which will transform every village, town, city and rural area, making it safe to walk or cycle to school, for example, and meaning that people will not necessarily have to commute all the time and can engage in remote working. People will not have to drive ever longer distances.

There are two small projects in that area to which I will refer now. One is within my own Department and the other is being delivered by the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection, Deputy Humphreys. The national broadband plan is now on track and on target, and if anything, we are going to accelerate it to deliver it earlier than originally planned. The demand for high-speed broadband is clear and everyone needs that connectivity. The Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection is in charge of the town-first policy whereby broadband connection points will be installed to create remote working hubs.

This budget is also all about protecting small Irish employers and their workers at this time. Most people working for the public service will be able to get through this crisis because their wages are still paid every week and many people working in large FDI companies are doing well, as the Tánaiste said, in this difficult time. The sector at most risk is the Irish SME sector, including family businesses and small local businesses, and in that context this budget went big in every way possible, including through the employee wage subsidy scheme, the PUP and now the Covid restrictions support scheme, CRSS, payment which will help companies in particular difficulty. That is strategically the right and most important priority at this time, because if we lose that heart of our economy, we will not be able to pay for all the other measures. If we do not protect those family businesses, people's mental health will suffer. They will not be able to take the loss of the pride they have in those businesses. It is on that welcome measure that I conclude my comments on budget 2021.

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