Joe Carey (Clare, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome this opportunity to contribute to this important debate. The summer economic statement is a testament to how the economy has been managed in the past decade in a careful, balanced and prudent way. The balance between taxes and expenditure and managing a prudent economy is always made up of difficult choices. It is easy to promise everything to everyone, an approach those on the Opposition side of the House have been practising since the last election.

Over the past decade, various Governments have had to have a steady hand on the tiller in order to navigate us through the major storms that have been sent our way, from the Celtic tiger collapse and the banking collapse to Brexit, the pandemic and the war in Ukraine. These have combined with other difficult challenges, including climate change, logistics and supply chain difficulties, the Northern Ireland protocol and now inflation. The creation of the rainy day fund allowed us the leeway to take very decisive support measures for employees and businesses in the first two months of the pandemic and that safeguarded and secured many businesses and families. This has led to the recovery of the economy in the past year. It is worth noting that the Government provided €40 billion in support measures to citizens and businesses over the period of the pandemic. That sum is six and a half times the total budget increase proposed for this year.

While there have been significant changes in specific sectors of the labour market, the fact that there are now 2.5 million people working in Ireland out of a population of 5 million gives us a better dependency rate, which has positive long-term benefits for pension funding. Chasing inflation is not the prudent thing to do, as was proved in the boom-and-bust years of the Celtic tiger. As we well know, when the bust happened we had to take drastic measures at the behest of the Troika. It is prudent that the Cabinet should have as much information available to it before drafting the support measures it will introduce in the next budget. All independent economic commentators agree that we have kept the national finances on track over the past ten years under successive Governments and Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform. This is the way we intend to continue.

The worst effects of different crises have been felt by the squeezed middle. It is for this reason that I welcome measures that were announced recently such as the proposed reduction in the cost of childcare. I welcome other recent initiatives taken by the Government, including that tickets for school bus transport will be free for the next academic year, the increase in the back-to-school allowance and the proposed childcare package, which will assist those in the early years as part of the forthcoming budget in September. There is no doubt that we have targeted the support measures. In the previous budget we increased tax relief by €415 for those on the average wage. We have raised the minimum wage eight times since 2011. We introduced the living wage to replace the minimum wage by 2026 to align those on the lowest wage with the average wage. In 2011, unemployment was 15%. Today, it stands at 4.7%. In fact, we now have labour shortages in certain sectors. I am pleased to note the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Deputy Harris, is expanding apprenticeship schemes throughout the country over the next three years. That is another example of prudent planning for the future.

I have some points to make to the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Michael McGrath. Regional development must be more balanced. One measure that would address the imbalance is to continue Shannon Airport's inclusion in the regional airports programme. That must happen. For the first time this year, Shannon was included in that essential programme, as was Cork Airport. These grants are used to support the growth of both Cork and Shannon airports and to help to correct the glaring imbalance that exists whereby 83% of airline traffic goes through one airport. I welcome the fact that the national aviation policy is to be reviewed in the autumn. I put forward a proposal to the transport committee, which secured unanimous support, that the committee would look at this issue in detail and consult stakeholders and policymakers so that we can put together a more informed national aviation policy that can benefit the regions, including Shannon Airport. If Shannon were to continue to be in the regional airports programme, it would free up vital revenues to enable the Shannon Group to market and develop routes and relationships with airlines. Shannon is much more than an airport; it is an economic driver for the mid-west region. There needs to be a focus on that in the forthcoming budget. Transport is an area we need to target.

Another significant issue in the mid-west region is University Hospital Limerick where we need additional capacity.

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The Government has, in fairness, invested more than €100 million in the hospital over the past five or six years and there is increased capacity, with additional consultants, doctors and nurses, but we need much more. Currently, far too many people are in the emergency department and that is not acceptable. We need to accelerate capital investment in the hospital, expand capacity and look at enhanced roles for the model 2 hospitals, Ennis Hospital, Nenagh Hospital and St. John's Hospital, which will require additional resources. Another key issue in the mid-west relates to the provision of an elective-only hospital for the region, as proposed in the Sláintecare report. I have raised this issue with the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and the Minister for Health, and a group of us Government Deputies in the mid-west have been pressing for this. I look forward to some support being forthcoming in the budget later this year for that type of initiative.

More than half of our population have never experienced inflation of this sort, and a steady hand is needed to secure our journey through these stormy economic times. I look forward to working with the Ministers for Public Expenditure and Reform and Finance to ensure the budget, which is critical at this time when people are feeling the bite of inflation and the cost of living, will be dynamic, and this summer economic statement puts us in a strong position to respond in a constructive way to address the issues we face.

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