Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle. The first question related to the setting of policy and budgetary priorities. The well-being framework will ultimately help to inform policy, the budgetary framework and budgetary initiatives. Deputy Mairéad Farrell specifically raised the issue of Brain Awareness Week being next week and the issue of Alzheimer's, dementia and so on. I believe the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, has made a significant difference in terms of that issue. She worked hard on it while in opposition and met all the organisations involved. She made rapid progress in a year and a half in respect of responding to dementia and the recommendations of the Alzheimer Society of Ireland and so on, particularly in terms of appointing advisers across the country. That will continue. The Minister of State, Deputy Butler, will continue to get the full support of the Government in pursuing that issue, to which she has really committed herself. I remember that while in opposition she, along with then Senator Colette Kelleher, initiated a review of this whole area. It has been a yardstick by which she has worked to implement some of the policies.

As Deputy Boyd Barrett knows, the Derelict Sites Act has not worked effectively in this country and there has been a lack of pursuit of levies and so on. Local authorities will cite various legal difficulties around that. The Government is looking at this afresh in terms of a new vacancy tax and also in terms of a use-it-or-lose-it approach to planning permission. The Minister for Finance has done a lot of work in terms of the current local property tax, LPT, review and consideration of research as to what the level of vacancy is and how that can be dealt with. In addition, there is further work being done in respect of getting a contribution in terms of the shared value of any uplift in value arising out of planning permissions being granted. Some of that would be used in terms of infrastructural investment. A lot of work has been done in this space. Compulsory purchase orders are, by definition, lengthy. They take up an inordinate length of time, it seems to me, in the courts. They again have proved problematic. In terms of the public side, the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, has worked extremely fast since he came into office to avoid any voids in terms of public housing and ensure they are used. As regards Croí Cónaithe, he wants to use part of that fund to ensure vacant sites in towns across the country could be refurbished with grant assistance to ensure housing is being provided. That is necessary.

In terms of Aughinish Alumina and Pat Geoghegan, I recall meeting him back in the period from 2000 to 2004 when I was Minister for Health and Children. My understanding is the EPA had done a lot of research at the time in terms of the implications of Aughinish Alumina and the health assessments and so on and it had not been established by statutory authorities in respect of the impact on health. I met Pat Geoghegan at the time in terms of the impact on both animal health and human health. I do not think it is fair to say an inquiry was blocked but, again, I do not have any recollection of meeting any individuals bar Mr. Geoghegan himself and talking to officials in the Department about that. It was a matter in relation to which the EPA had been doing a lot of work in terms of its role and statutory duty to monitor industrial plants and ensure they meet health and safety requirements and public health requirements. It still remains for baseline public health studies to be done in the context of plans like that. I recall that in other locations baseline health studies have been done. Those have been continued in areas close to industry, monitoring pollution levels in cattle, soil and so on. My sense was the evidential base was not one that was established around that, notwithstanding the very strong personal testimony of Mr. Geoghegan himself, who has pursued this on a lengthy basis.

Deputy Moynihan made some good points in respect of the well-being framework and whether issues around community spiritual health and so on will be considered. They will. Our framework is based on the OECD model but has been moulded to suit the Irish context based on consultations with stakeholders, experts, policymakers and the public. The framework will encompass 11 dimensions: subjective well-being; mental and physical health; knowledge and skills; income and wealth; housing and built area; environment, climate and biodiversity; safety and security; work and job quality; time use; community, social connections and cultural participation, which is the area the Deputy identified; and civic engagement and cultural expression. The initial well-being framework will be refined to reflect recent consultation and further research in the second report, which will be published in the coming months. There are also some indicators now from the dashboard and the CSO and so on, measuring life and progress in Ireland through a set of about 34 indicators. Again, this relates to our performance relative to the OECD How's Life initiative, which is the basis for our framework. This set of indicators was based on the areas that were highlighted as important for Ireland through the NESC-----

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