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

Tá áthas orm bheith anseo chun freagra a thabhairt ar an díospóireacht seo. To answer immediately the point about Oireachtas scrutiny that Deputy Connolly raised, I will point out that the Minister has in fact been in touch regularly with the Oireachtas finance committee, and that engagement will continue. The Minister will be subject to ongoing scrutiny on this issue. The general public, including Oireachtas Members, were in fact invited to make their submissions on this during the process, so there was sufficient opportunity for people to put forward their views as to how this money should be spent.

Next Generation EU represents an unprecedented response from the European Union to a global crisis. The support provided to member states, including Ireland, to help them to respond to the global pandemic is tangible evidence of the solidarity that comes with EU membership. The €750 billion recovery instrument, along with the €1 trillion budget for the next seven years, is central to the EU's response to the global pandemic. The aim of Next Generation EU is to help to repair the immediate economic and social damage brought about by the pandemic and to prepare for a post-Covid Europe that is greener, more digital, more resilient and fit to face the future.

Unusually, the European Commission will now borrow on the markets at more favourable rates than many member states and redistribute the amounts. The money is provided in the form of grants and loans and, to answer a query one colleague raised, the Irish money, as things stand, will be in the form of grants. We are to receive €950 million in the form of grants under the facility in 2021 and 2022. Further grants will be allocated in 2023. Mention was made of the figures for this. Those who mentioned this failed to take into account a number of important points. One is that, as part of the overall EU budget negotiations, Ireland also receives under the Brexit adjustment reserve approximately €1.1 billion, by far the largest allocation of any member state. In addition, there is the PEACE PLUS programme, which benefits Northern Ireland and Border communities and stretches out a little beyond that, including Galway, as Deputy Connolly will be very happy to hear. That amounts to approximately €1 billion but the details of that have to be worked out. That increases the money coming into this country from Europe.

A really critical point about this programme is that it benefits the entirety of the Single Market, so when the French economy or the German economy does well, the entire Single Market does well. Which countries do best out of the European Single Market? All the research shows that within the European Union it is Luxembourg followed by Ireland. All the companies that employ people in really exciting jobs, particularly in the pharma industry in Galway and, in Deputy Mattie McGrath's constituency, the pharma industry and other really important industries in Clonmel, benefit directly when their customers in the European Single Market are in economies that are doing better. That part of this debate is not widely appreciated or understood.

I will have to respond to Deputy Michael Healy-Rae. He certainly knows Kerry better than I do but, as an outsider to Kerry, I do not immediately associate it with fishing, forestry and turf. I think of Fexco, Kerry Group, Liebherr in Killarney and the technological university being established. Those are all very much dependent on the European Union and the European Single Market. There are tens of thousands of jobs in Kerry Group around the world. Fexco also provides thousands of jobs.

As the Minister, Deputy Michael McGrath, said, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, working in conjunction with the Taoiseach's Department and the Department of Finance, prepared this plan with inputs not only from other Departments but also from the general public and Members of Dáil Éireann. The benefits and the individual details have been laid out. As I said, strong, healthy EU economies are very much in Ireland's interest.

Our recovery and resilience facility is structured on six pillars: green transition; digital transformation; economic cohesion, productivity and competitiveness; social and territorial cohesion; health, economic, social and institutional resilience; and policies for the next generation. There are also the seven flagship areas identified by the European Commission. The European semester process, which is the formal process of examining budgets, public expenditure and budgetary policy, has been temporarily adapted to co-ordinate with this recovery facility. The facility is designed to contribute to the four dimensions outlined in the 2021 annual sustainable growth strategy, which continues the growth strategy based on the European green deal and the concepts of competitive sustainability, environmental sustainability, productivity gains, fairness and macroeconomic stability. Member states were required to embed those measures they planned to take in national budgetary processes. An important feature of plans is that they must strike a balance between reforms, which Deputy McGuinness spoke so well about, and investments and seek to address challenges identified in the country-specific recommendations which arise as part of the European semester process.

When I was in the Dáil last July, in the aftermath of the European Council decision on the budget, we heard a lot of talk about the European semester process, that it was really about austerity, that there would be cutbacks and that the terrible European Commission would cut us back. However, I explained the reality at that time and now the reality has borne fruit in the Minister's statement and the plans that have been put forward. Nobody can criticise anything in this plan because, effectively, it is all "good stuff" and items that will benefit communities, people and our economies. When the French Government, the Italian Government or the German Government spends - the Croatian Government was mentioned - our companies here in Ireland are very well placed to benefit from that.

It was mentioned that we need to give support to the tourism industry. When all those European economies are doing better, our hotels and restaurants in counties Galway, Kerry, Cork and Meath do much better as well. That is what this is all about. We have to think of ourselves as being very much at the heart of the Single Market and that it benefits us directly and more effectively almost than any other member state.

This is about jobs and social resilience. Practically every Member welcomed this but the notes of caution, surprisingly, came from left wing politicians. This is the largest stimulus ever. The term "Keynesian" was used by Deputy McNamara. This is the first of its kind by the EU. It will be on top of what individual member states, such as Ireland, have spent on stimulus packages. The European Commission has been careful to make sure that when this money is spent, it will not be on day-to-day items like most governments spend on social welfare. This is about making sure we are ready for the future and that we can compete and create jobs that last. This is about moving to the digital age confidently in a socially progressive and equal way, protecting our environment while, at the same time, creating and protecting jobs.

I am delighted to have had a small role to play in this at the General Affairs Council. I commend the Departments of Public Expenditure and Reform and Finance, as well as all Oireachtas Members, on their work in ensuring this gets over the line. I thank the Taoiseach as well because he negotiated this at the European Council. He also negotiated the other parts of the European budget that are unique to Ireland, namely, the PEACE PLUS programme and the Brexit adjustment reserve, the latter in terms of the amount. We will benefit from those separately as well.

See this speech in context