Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Our inequality levels have reduced thanks to the progressive policies of previous Fianna Fáil Governments. I am glad to see our influence on this Government. We have moved mountains in seeking to help and support the most vulnerable in society.

Health expenditure has amounted to €19.8 billion, including additional funding of €2.5 billion to maximise capacity in the system and allow for the purchase of necessary equipment such as personal protective equipment, PPE. The Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in major disruptions to routine health services and has necessitated a singular and urgent focus on one priority. However, the winter initiative has seen significant extra resources put into our health services over the winter period. If those resources were not there, services would be in a deeper position of difficulty than they already are because of the pandemic. At the same time that all of this is going on, dealing with a pandemic and trying to make sure we are prepared for winter, work is ongoing to implement Sláintecare reforms this year, with €1.3 billion allocated for that purpose in budget 2021.

Housing is a key issue. The Minister of State, Deputy Brophy, referred to the programme for Government commitment to introduce a referendum on housing. The programme also contains a significant number of other housing commitments, including to increase the supply of public, social and affordable homes and to increase the housing stock by more than 50,000. The Government is going to establish a commission on housing to examine issues such as tenure, standards, sustainability and quality of life issues in the provision of housing. Later this year, a fresh housing plan, called housing for all, will be published and I really look forward to that.

I know that the issue of workers' rights is of significant interest to Deputies, including Deputy Pringle, as it is for all of us. Work has commenced on progressing to a living wage commitment as outlined in the programme for Government. I welcome the fact that some companies are already doing that. The Tánaiste has engaged with the Low Pay Commission and with employee and employer representative bodies on this issue and the commission will start work on it shortly. The Government has agreed to introduce a mandatory sick pay scheme, with a general scheme to be published by March and a Bill enacted by the summer. The Low Pay Commission has also been asked to examine the programme for Government commitments on a universal basic income.

In respect of education, the programme for Government's headline vision for education sets out inclusion in, and access to, education as the foundation for a more just and equal society. I am particularly proud of what Fianna Fáil has done in terms of the expansion of education. Éamon de Valera, when he looked at drawing up the Constitution, established primary education as the only socio-economic right that is justiciable. The right to a primary education is not part of Article 45; it is set out in a separate provision and is the only right that is justiciable before the courts. That was relatively unique at the time in Europe and also at a time, let us not forget, when it was not automatic that everybody finished primary school. Donogh O'Malley subsequently brought free second level education into operation. Patrick Hillery's role in education was not only in guidance counselling but also in setting up the regional technical colleges, which became the institutes of technology and are now technological universities or on the way to becoming such.

We need to continue that tradition because the education system is the one sure way out of poverty and the one sure way to help people, and the country, to advance socially. The delivering equality of opportunity in schools, DEIS, plan sets out a vision for delivering interventions in the critical area of disadvantage. A total of 887 schools are in the DEIS programme and there is a €125 million spend on it. The decision in the programme for Government to establish the new Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science should see a new vision, not just for excellence in higher education but for access and inclusion in that excellence.

Throughout the pandemic, work in government has continued on the establishment of a new anti-racism committee. The Department of Social Protection has been provided with €10.4 billion of additional funding in 2020. That is a big sum but it will never be enough. We will always have cases of people who need more, but the State is providing a massive amount and it is up to us to spend it as efficiently as possible to get as much as help as possible directly to the people who need it.

As the programme for Government acknowledges, every citizen has a stake in a strong, responsive social protection system that assists in the cost of raising children, helps those in need or who have fallen on hard times and provides for us in old age.

The Covid-19 emergency has illustrated the resilience and responsiveness of our system. Overall, expenditure in 2020 amounted to €18 billion more than in 2019. This is an extraordinary level of support, and it has been continued into 2021. In the programme for Government, we made a commitment to a post-Covid economic recovery that is fair and balanced, that includes everybody and that prioritises policy actions that protect the most vulnerable.

Our Constitution guarantees certain fundamental rights but it does not dictate budgetary priorities; that is why we have elections. The separation of powers allows the Government and Legislature to care for the needs of people in ordinary times and to respond quickly and flexibly in extraordinary times, such as those in which we find ourselves. We should reflect carefully on these matters before eroding the separation of powers and involving the courts in budgetary decisions but I realise these are matters that should and must be open to regular, rigorous and transparent debate. I look forward to that process continuing.

See this speech in context