Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The greatest challenge we face is managing a recovery from a crisis the impact of which has not been even. Some, as we have heard, have €12 billion in savings accumulated while others have endured open wounds and seen their life's work go up in smoke. The country does not have the option of getting back to all that existed before now, and those who try to say we can go back to where we were would not only put us on a path that would be unaffordable but would stunt the country's future. What we have to work on is a just transition to a new future. Some in the Opposition. although I notably exclude the previous speaker, have attacked the extension of property tax, which 95% pay, to ask the remaining 5% who have not been paying to pay, but when people hear that attack, they know they are facing Members who will put out any impossible expectation to try to narrow the scope for the Government to deliver. The challenge now is to build a stronger, fairer, more balanced and more sustainable economy with a new social contract binding our communities together. This will require us being innovative in the way we align both public investment and activity and private activity. It will mean new responsibilities for the private sector, and I am glad to see that those are coming around in the form of new workers' rights, but it will also mean the public sector taking on new responsibilities. It cannot mean, as we have heard from Sinn Féin in particular, public-only solutions in crucial sectors such as housing.

The recovery plan is a good start. Viable businesses are being given an opportunity to recover. Persons displaced are being offered an opportunity to transition and there are new workers' rights for them. I welcome in particular the youth employment charter and the pact for skills. We are recognising that we need to future-proof in digital and green areas. However, housing, the NDP and the climate plan are the real meat in how much the Government embeds change. We need to make sure that the tools embedded are adequate for the ambition we have set out. We cannot hope to rely on the old infrastructures or institutions to deliver the necessary change. I have some anxieties about whether we have made enough of a commitment to change. If we want regional balance, the Land Development Agency must have the capacity to assemble substantial sites, particularly in the new cities we want to evolve. I do not see that this is yet in place. If we want to promote compact and sustainable living patterns, investment planning in housing or at least in education, justice, transport and children must change in order that, as we develop these compact living patterns, public services are developed in tandem. We must also recognise that the social benefits of compact living are such that we cannot expect first-time buyers to carry all of that cost. If we want agricultural transition, we need to plan for massive change in land use and forestry. So far we are only scratching the surface. If we want zero environmental degradation, every sector must look at its supply chain. The public sector must lead by example and examine its supply chain. If we want to make the well-being of children central to our future strategy, we need to see reform of the senior cycle and the curriculum and assessment method, we need to build mental health resilience in our communities for young people and we need to improve our approach to the care of the child. There are, therefore, significant changes on which we need to continue to build. Today's plan is a good first step but we need to do substantially more. I look forward to the NDP and hope it will fulfil those ambitions.

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