Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the motion. The so-called rainy day fund was established in 2018 and for reasons that are fairly obvious at this point in time, only one instalment of €500 million was paid into the fund. That was in 2019. The right thing to do was to use that €500 million to help fight the pandemic and to support jobs and business through the most difficult of years. We are, again, as the House knows only too well, in very dangerous territory and it is right that no money is paid into the fund this year either. We are all agreed, at least for this year, that there are better ways to allocate this money in 2022 and, indeed, more urgent matters that we need to address as a society as we battle through this difficult time.

When the legislation to establish the fund was taken by this House, the Labour Party opposed it. We opposed also the motion to direct the first tranche of €500 million into the fund in the first year of its operation in 2019, not because we do not believe that we should budget responsibly and organise our economic affairs sensibly. We opposed the rationale of the fund in the first place because we believe there should be no need for it if the economy is managed well, sustainably and productively.

It would be wrong-headed and unconscionable to set aside in one year the kind of money that could build several thousand homes when so many of our citizens need the security of a decent long-term roof over their heads. I appreciate the view of the Minister of State, Deputy Fleming, and the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, that the idea of a rainy day fund is in the interests of the prudent management of the economy. That is their perspective and they are entitled to hold that perspective, but let us put the experience of 2018 and 2019, when the fund first came into being, in some kind of context. That was a time when €500 million was being funnelled into the fund yet the 2016-2020 Government, supported by the Minister of State, Deputy Fleming's party, was paying for cost overruns in the HSE with corporation tax windfalls. Similarly, massive sums of money not budgeted for had to be found to fund cost overruns in the national children's hospital project. Protecting the economy and our citizens from black swan moments is in the long run better achieved by making investment in public goods such as housing, education, childcare, training and primary healthcare now, not by putting half a billion euro of taxpayers' money a year into an account no matter what the weather. It is public investment, first and foremost, that will prime our economy for the kind of sustainable growth that can make our society more resilient to the kind of shocks we experienced in 2020 and 2021. The idea that we pumped half a billion euro into a fund for the future while at the same time seeing cost overruns get out of control before our very eyes on many high profile public projects did not sit well with me or with the general public. Quite rightly, it drives people mad to see how the State is constantly on the hook, low-balled and taken for a ride by big contractors for overruns on big projects such as the children's hospital.

If this Government really wants to see the State better insulated and better prepared for all eventualities, a good place to start is by ensuring better value for money and oversight in real time of public spending - something that we do not seem able to achieve in this country. The Minister of State could also agree to raise additional sustained revenue to build up our public services through targeted wealth and asset taxes on those who can most afford it. Tax seems to be a dirty word for this Government but we need to talk about tax. Mark my words, this is something we will have to return to very soon. This would bring real sustainability to the public finances and make Ireland fairer and better prepared to withstand any future shocks than any rainy day fund might.

See this speech in context