Peter Fitzpatrick (Louth, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have said many times, this is not the time to play political football with the pandemic. I strongly believe that the Government has responded well to the pandemic and we are now moving towards a new stage in the fight against Covid. Thankfully, it seems we are almost over the worst. The moneys we have needed during this time are astonishing. An additional €28 billion was made available in 2020 and 2021. Of this, over €15 billion went on the pandemic unemployment payment and the various wage subsidy schemes. An additional €4.4 billion was made available to the health services. I asked the Taoiseach earlier if this additional spending would bring long-term benefits to the health services, particularly around increasing the number of permanent and operational ICU beds. The EU has agreed to give Ireland €915 million in grants to help our recovery from the pandemic. Will the Minister give the House a breakdown of how this will be spent? Will it be ring-fenced for certain projects or absorbed into the general budget?

From the various press releases and briefing notes, I know the national recovery and resilience plan will focus on three key areas. These include advancing the green transition, accelerating and expanding digital reform and transformation and social and economic recovery and job creation. We need to be more specific, particularly on job creation. One of the greatest challenges we now face is housing and one of the greatest challenges facing the construction sector in delivering houses is skilled labour. This becomes clear when one asks anyone who has tried to engage the services of a tradesperson in the last two years. It is nearly impossible to get a tradesman at the moment. At a time when we need to create more jobs, it is a no-brainer that we would target construction for them. Not only will it create jobs but it will also accelerate the delivery of badly needed houses. How do we attract new entrants to construction? I firmly believe that there must be an overhaul of the apprenticeship system to bring it up to date. We need to upskill existing tradesmen and make it more attractive for young people to enter these professions. Too often apprenticeship was seen as a poor relation to third level education. This mindset must be challenged. I urge the Government to re-examine apprenticeships and make them more attractive to the younger generation.

Another area is renewable energy. The existing housing stock needs a major retrofit to make it more energy efficient. We need more skilled tradespeople to carry out these works. What is being done to address the skills shortage? The Government needs to be more proactive. It is okay to say we need digital reform but surely we need to use the labour force to address the housing problem. We must all work together and not play politics.

I believe in the saying "your health is your wealth". The additional €4.4 billion to the health services must make long-term benefits so that when the pandemic passes, we are left with permanent beds, including in ICU. We need to stop the two-tier system. When someone is sick and ends up in hospital, the last thing they want is to end up on a trolley to be left in a corridor for long periods. This is the opportunity to sort this out. The quicker someone is seen by a doctor or consultant, the quicker they recover and can go home, making room for the next person.

Everybody wants a home and we have an opportunity to give everyone the chance to have one. Reference has been made to the amount of money that will be spent on housing over the next 12 to 18 months, or two or three years. We have a chance to do something about the housing situation. I ask the Minister not to fail.

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