Dáil debates

Wednesday, 13 October 2021

Financial Resolutions 2021 - Financial Resolution No. 2: General (Resumed)

 

1:40 pm

Photo of Eamon RyanEamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I will say the exact same thing, which is that this Government is working well. In the past month, it has been working well, such as in its management of the pandemic. We all admit there were mistakes and terrible losses but, by any international yardstick, we have managed the pandemic as a people and as a country, and the Government is part of that. However, we now have to come out of the pandemic and recover from it. What has happened in the past month is a sign of a Government that is well equipped and well up for that task.

The budget announced yesterday provided for the critical Housing for All strategy and the national development plan setting out the future of investment for the next ten years. I believe we will do further work in the context of the series of events we have planned in respect of the recovery and lifting the country and the economy, such as through the climate action plan that will be published approximately two weeks from now. The budget is an important part of that because having a sound economy is crucial to being able to do this. At the centre of a sound economy is our ability to invest in capital, infrastructure and the future. We particularly need to invest in housing, climate and health but also, obviously, in schools, water infrastructure and all the other elements. However, investment in housing, climate and health in particular is what people need now. They need housing built. We need to prepare for climate change and to protect against it. This morning, Members heard Deputy Kelly relate the stories of young people in a critical condition in the health system. To solve that, we need to invest in capital and we need to create the economic conditions to get that right.

I was looking for commentary on the budget or seeing who said what on it and noticed the website of the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, IFAC, had a "Flash Release on Budget 2022". Now, IFAC is not known for flash anything. Prudence is its middle name. I am glad the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, is present in the Chamber because what IFAC stated in respect of the budget was very much a vote of confidence in what he and the Minister, Deputy McGrath, did yesterday. IFAC pointed up a key economic truth - the economy is starting to lift. Our numbers are far better than we thought they would be, even in summer. What we are doing is using that money to help us on the capital side because, as IFAC stated is critical, we are adhering to the spending rule set out in the summer economic statement, that is, to have a 5% increase, on average, in current spending into the medium term. The Minister, Deputy Donohoe, may be able to confirm that. In the medium term - not just this year or next year, but into the next five or ten years - that trajectory of spending on the current side will give us the stability to be able to keep interest rates low and manage our debt so that we can invest on the capital side.

The IFAC release stated, "By following this rule even as revenues have surprised on the upside, the Government has the economy on a more prudent path that will reduce borrowing and the debt ratio in the years ahead." That is important because we are facing into an uncertain world where inflation is starting to rise and quantitative easing will be tapered off at some point. We want the rest of the world to look at Ireland in 2023 or 2024 and conclude it is a place that can still be lent to, especially for capital projects. A key line in the budget speech of the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, was that we will be borrowing for capital, not for current. I think he is correct in that regard. The scale of borrowing on capital is limited not by ambition but the ability to train workers and get the resources in place. I do not see any restriction on that if it achieves value for money and those investments in housing, climate and health give a good return, which they will. The only restraint or restriction on us relates to the internal supply lines and chains and ensuring we do not overheat but get good value for money and deliver good quality projects for our people.

In the context of that broad outline, the big economic picture is that we will borrow and we will spend on capital and manage the current side to allow us to do that, keep interest rates low and get the balance in the economy right. The climate transition will require such a significant capital change. We have to change our entire capital stock in transport, energy, agriculture and industry. This is a ten, 20 and 30-year project of capital investment on a scale beyond compare. That is why we must ensure we have the capability on the capital side by managing our current spending, which is what we did in the budget yesterday.

I will concentrate on some of the elements relating to the Green Party. The Taoiseach and the Tánaiste set out a much wider picture and I hope they will not mind if I focus on what I consider to be the green elements. I am proud of the Green Party for delivering again this year. On the capital side of transport, my area, we will still be spending on roads. There is a total allocation of approximately €1.4 billion in that regard. It is a significant amount of money. However, that will start to reduce because the number of public transport projects is starting to rise dramatically. As we say "Yes" to MetroLink, DART+ and BusConnects in Cork, Galway, Waterford and Limerick as well as Dublin, we will have a significant capital spend requirement on the public transport side. Even though we have a massive budget of €35 billion this decade, if we were actually to build all the projects, we would need to double that budget. We probably do not have the building capacity to spend €70 billion on transport, but we will spend €35 billion and we need to spend it well. That will see the roads budget decline and the public transport and active travel budgets increase so that we achieve a 2:1 ratio.

We will start on the public transport side. We are starting already, with 165 electric buses next year, 81 new rural buses around the country, and 41 new railway carriages that will fit into existing services so that we can increase capacity straight away and will not have to wait for DART+ or Cork and Limerick metropolitan rail services that will take time to get through planning and to build. We are also investing straight away in walking and cycling and that is critical. I hope to bring the new road traffic (miscellaneous provisions) Bill before the Dáil in the coming weeks. Aspects of that Bill will be critical in allowing us to overcome some of the legal challenges that are being taken and in terms of being able to spend the money that has been allocated. I look forward to bringing that Bill before the House.

On the climate side, retrofitting is key and central. Its great benefit is that it improves people's health, protects against fuel poverty and is very rich in creating employment. It is a quality-of-life measure as well as a climate measure. It was delayed because of Covid last year. You could not go into people's houses in the middle of a pandemic. The first five years were gone, so we will have to ramp up now. The Minister, Deputy McGrath stated yesterday that this is a ten-year ramping-up, and he is absolutely right. We are only at the start of this process. This year, the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, will be spending €85 million on retrofitting social houses. Social justice and ecological justice go hand in hand. We will be spending €109 million on the warmer homes scheme, through which we cover the entire cost for people who cannot afford the transition that needs to be made. Significant new resources will be introduced both in my Department and the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, as well as new loan schemes that will allow people to get a loan at a fraction of the current interest rate cost and ensure the private sector plays its part in order that people who can afford to do so can retrofit their homes. The really attractive thing about this project is that if we can direct as much of the wall of money we have saved in the past two to three years into it, that will be the best investment against the international fossil fuel high price crisis we are in.

There are a whole range of other ways we can help make this transition happen, including rewetting our bogs and carrying on drilling down and going further in the just transition investments we have made in the midlands and elsewhere. We can provide grants and supports for electric vehicles, EVs, including VRT relief. I believe around €82 million is being put into that. It is not a small amount. We can make the transition that is required in the climate change space.

More than anything else, the establishment of the 35,000 green skills apprenticeship positions that have been announced will make a difference, because that is the biggest constraint. The biggest risk to us not being able to spend the money is not having the workers. Therefore, huge investment in third level education and the apprenticeship scheme is going to be key. The message to our young people, and I think they absolutely get it, is that this is the future and this is where the money is going to be for the next three decades. It is a project that gives them real pride and status, and protects their futures and that of their friends and future children.

I have said capital expenditure is key. It is key in housing and health, education and water and other areas. I do not have time to go into detail on that. It is not to say current spending is not important and we do not have to protect people from the increases in the cost of living that are happening. However, looking through the budget, I am proud of our parties. I will cite examples in areas for which different Ministers are responsible.

In my own area, I was very pleased to be able to listen to the representatives from Comhairle na nÓg, the national representative council for young people. They came to us and told us the best thing we could do would be to introduce a 50% reduction in the cost of travel for those under the age of 24. They noticed there was a gap there. If you are under 18 you get a 50% reduction in the cost travel, but if you are a worker or a third level student, you do not. Third level students get a 25% reduction. Comhairle na nÓg came with a proposal and we agreed to introduce the 50% reduction. It is a practical measure. It will take time to introduce it. We cannot even get the chips for the cards at the moment such is the supply chain chaos around the world, but we will introduce it and look to go further.

My colleague, the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, has introduced a measure to recognise childcare workers and to pay them properly, which in turn will avoid a price increase. I heard Deputy Cullinane speaking on the radio recently about the cost of childcare. If I heard him right, he said an investment of €160 million or €170 million could reduce the cost of childcare by two thirds. I apologise if I am misquoting him, but that is what I heard on the radio. I am not so sure that is possible. When we looked at it and the possibility of investing a similar amount, we ended up with the outcome we have delivered in the budget. I think it is the right outcome. We all know that looking after a child is an important job and paying for it properly is the first thing in getting it right, in my mind. Therefore, I think the decision to put the money there was the right one. I stand up for it and believe it was the right call.

In the arts, while it is small in terms of the overall budgetary figures, the €25 million the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media is going to put into a universal basic scheme for artists is of huge consequence and significance. It recognises we sometimes have to measure progress not just in economic and monetary terms but in creative and cultural terms. I believe the introduction of this scheme will be akin to what former Taoiseach Charlie Haughey did when he introduced tax breaks for artists. It is an important symbolic gesture to say we value the artists in our society and give them the flexibility and capability to do their work in a way that really works for them. If you work in a theatre, you are not working all the time. It is about having a basic income to come and go as you please and be flexible. That trial is going to be very significant.

I was asked yesterday at a press conference about biodiversity. This morning, the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, replied that we have increased the funding for the National Parks and Wildlife Service by 64% since he has been in office. Up to €47 million will be provided in this area next year. We have increased the spending on heritage by 36% throughout the country. That is very important. I spoke to the Minister of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, who cited the example from his own constituency of a small grant of €5,000 being used to turn around an old churchyard. Lots of small things like that make a difference and create a greater sense of community.

The Minister of State, Senator Hackett, announced €21 million additional spending in organics. As per our programme for Government commitment, we have doubled support for animal welfare organisations. That is important to the people who vote for our party.

In the area of social protection, the budget not only contained social welfare increases in the protection against the carbon tax rise, which I will discuss further shortly, but there were increased payments for lone parents, school meals and back-to-school allowances. It is true we need to do more. For those on the left, and my party is from the left-----

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