Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

As we know, this is a technical matter in many senses. Indeed, a similar motion last March attracted no debate or real attention at all. However, the sheer scale of the carryover and the magnitude of State spending last year and this year warrants debate and further examination.

There are now 607,000 people, or 25% of the labour force, out of work, all of whom have their own stories, circumstances and struggles. Hundreds of thousand more are having their wages paid through State subsidies. They are all looking for some sense of hope, some sense that even in this dark time they can look forward to a future where jobs, businesses and prospects are secure. They long for a signal of a brighter, fairer future.

The sense that increased spending by the State will drive better value and more equal outcomes is often missing from the dry, detached analyses we are treated to here. The long-promised national economic recovery plan has been postponed twice already and many of the much vaunted initiatives like the stay and spend scheme have plainly flopped. Do not get me wrong - the additional investment is essential. Services, supports and inputs into those are both welcome and necessary but now the debate must shift to how we use the resources we have to set out our vision for a better Ireland. We know that strategic capital investment in areas such as housing, healthcare, childcare, climate and transport will not only provide jobs and sustainable growth but will also drastically improve our quality of life by finally building the type of public services in this country that have been the basic norm for decades across Europe. We were already playing catch up, with the lowest level of Government expenditure in the EU and OECD and this crisis must be a catalyst for lasting change.

In recent weeks the IMF advised governments across the world to spend "as much as you can and then spend a little bit more", citing evidence which suggests that investment in green infrastructure in particular provides two thirds more in terms of growth, which is exceptional value. We must ensure that we spend in the right areas so that we get the biggest bang for our buck, economically and socially.

Effective oversight of, and accountability for, this historic expenditure is, therefore, needed yet it has been sorely lacking so far. The Minister knows and acknowledges that fact and that the situation is, and has been, imperfect. We have already seen a de facto suspension of many of the robust budgetary oversight practices we had come to expect and demand over recent years in respect of the presentation of Government spending plans. The scale of this carry-over causes yet more problems of transparency and accountability, as noted by the Parliamentary Budget Office from time to time.

Despite this, not only is this Government failing to spend transparently or wisely, but the carry-over figures show that it is also failing to spend fully in critical Departments despite the problem of creaking public infrastructure and a raft of shovel-ready projects across the country which have not yet been started. Although the historically high capital carry-over of some €700 million is, to a degree, to be expected due to Covid-19, what is more worrying is the high capital underspends under the headings of housing, transport and climate. We all understand the circumstances. For example, building sites have not been operating at full tilt. That is entirely understandable but it does not tell the entire story. By my reckoning, we will not be anywhere near our targets in respect of social housing, new builds or home retrofitting and that is worrying. Even more worrying is that this Government, which is led by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael and which includes the Green Party, which might be said to have lost its colour, is incapable of imagining the role of a bigger state, a state that could provide a new social contract for its citizens while putting hundreds of thousands of people back to work securely.

To refer to housing again, we all know the demand for the building of affordable homes. Through the local authorities, the State must play the lead role. Despite this, we have seen the Minister's Government propose a €75 million scheme for so-called affordable housing which officials of the Minister's own Department have said "will push up prices [...] at a time when prices are starting to rise anyway." This represents another gift to developers and proves yet again that this Government will continue to rely on a failed private sector model rather than driving State-led capital investment. The Government cannot make the same mistakes again. The social price will be paid if we go down that road.

I look forward to hearing more details regarding the forthcoming national economic plan from the Minister and about how he plans to address the issues I have raised today and repeatedly over recent months with regard to the enhancement of transparency and accountability in respect of expenditure and the management of the public finances.

See this speech in context