Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Acknowledging that more progress needs to be made in our society, in our economy and by this Government is not the same as the Government indicating that we are not making any progress at all. That is the premise of this debate today.

This Government, all of our colleagues, colleagues from three different political parties, fully acknowledge that we need to do more. We fully acknowledge, particularly as we grapple with the searing effects of our challenges in building more homes, the need to get more homes built and to respond in an even more effective and determined way to getting more homes built, having them built in the right place and in a more affordable way.

However, the recent performance and delivery of the Government is also a good and solid indicator of what this Government can achieve and will achieve during the rest of its term of office. We will do so fuelled by an acknowledgment that more in our society want this Government to do and achieve more, and to achieve more on the back of an economy that continues to be strong. If one looks at what this Government has had to contend with on behalf of the people of Ireland in recent years, during this term of office, we can make a case to the Dáil and to the people today as to why support for this Government is merited, and why that support, in turn, will allow this Government to make an even bigger difference in the challenges that this Dáil wants to see improved on, and on which it wants to see further progress delivered.

What is that track record? This is a Government which, building on the resilience, stamina and determination of the Irish people, navigated our way through a deadly pandemic. In my contribution today, I am going to focus on the economic context, and the economic element of that. It is a Government which spent more than €30 billion in measures, which allowed us to put in place the public health measures that were needed to close our economy for many months and over two years. By doing that, and because of the nature of those measures and the way we managed our public finances, we led our economy back to the level of full employment it is at currently. I remember in the early months of the pandemic dealing with this. I used to get question after question about saying austerity is inevitable, and that we were moving into a prolonged recession, and moving into a period of high unemployment.

However, due to the economic decisions that were made, building on the resilience of the people and decisions that were made by this and the last Government, we not only led our way through the economic consequences of a pandemic but nursed and supported our economy back to a position of growth, a surplus in our national finances and more people at work than ever before in the history of our country, including more young people and women returning to the workplace. Just after our country had to contend with the effect of the pandemic, we dealt with the next wave of challenge, namely the economic effects of the awful war on the people of Ukraine. Fresh from our committing tens of billions of euro to fund the employment wage subsidy scheme and the pandemic unemployment payment, we put in place additional measures, including a budget of €11 billion. That is helping, but we always acknowledge more help needs to be given. We always acknowledge many want us to do even more. We put in place a combination of one-off measures and changes to taxation and welfare to provide support at a time when a weary country battered by a pandemic had to deal with the return of surging inflation within our economy. We have done all that while at the same time getting the balance right between helping enough today to try to make a difference and setting aside the ability to help more in the future if it is needed.

Of course, the context to all this is where we are with the great challenge of building more homes for our country. The Taoiseach outlined where we are on the national measures being delivered and Ministers, especially the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, will do likewise. In dealing for the second time in this Dáil with a motion of confidence, I want to put on record the progress I see happening in my communities in the constituency I have the privilege of representing in this House. At Seán Foster Place, 30 homes are opened and being opened at the moment. At Dominick Street there are 70 homes. At O'Devaney Gardens there are 56 homes and hundreds more being built. At Dorset Street there are 160 homes. At St. Finbarr’s Court there are 40 homes. At Infirmary Road there are 40 homes. These are homes that are either open or being built at the moment and are just the ones being built by Dublin City Council. Plans being developed include 19 homes at Matt Talbot Court, ten homes at St. Bricin's Court, 60 homes in East Wall, over 70 homes in Croke Villas and 150 homes at Stanley Street. That is not to mention the work approved housing bodies are doing across my constituency or the new homes being delivered by the private sector with the support of measures the Government has introduced. We know more needs to be done, but progress is being made and we can make the case for that while also acknowledging more needs to be delivered.

The Minister, Deputy Humphreys, said there are few parties she holds in higher esteem than the Labour Party and I am of the same view. I think of the contribution the party has made to our country, our economy and our society and of the contribution made by Deputy Howlin in particular, as well as Deputy Nash. I had the privilege of serving in Government with them both. However, that is why I listen with a sense of worry to the Labour Party claim it can deliver a million more homes. On what land, with what workers and with what money? How is the party going to deliver them?

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