Pádraig Rice (Cork South-Central, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to have this opportunity to speak on the new programme for Government. Having read the document from start to finish, it is my firm view that it fails to provide for transformative change. Over the 162 pages, most of the commitments are vague, notional or regurgitated. There are very few new ideas and it is completely devoid of the promised new energy. Instead, what we get is more of the same.

However, more of the same will not deliver the transformative change that is deeply desired and urgently required. In particular, it will not deliver the change that is needed on housing, healthcare, childcare, disability services and climate action. This is deeply disappointing, particularly in housing where the previous Government's own expert commission called for a radical reset in policy. The new programme for Government continues the failed housing policies of the past. They have left us with record levels of homelessness, soaring rents and unaffordable house prices.

The health section of the programme lacks vision. The very thing that should underpin this entire section, Sláintecare, gets but two passing mentions. So many of the projects, such as the national children's hospital, digital health records or the statutory homecare scheme, should have already been delivered, while other initiatives lack any semblance of ambition. How is it that, almost eight years into Sláintecare, the programme for Government is still only talking about extending free GP care to 12-year-olds? The aim should be free primary care for all within the lifetime of the Government.

There is no doubt that there are some positive elements, but even these have been underpinned by non-committal language. We need to do more than explore the recruitment of HSE-employed GPs; we need to start it. With hundreds of thousands of people waiting for community services and therapies, the best the Government can do is consider measures to attract and retain health and social care professionals.

On social policy, there is a lack of bravery. There is no mention of drug decriminalisation, assisted dying or access to abortion care. We need policies in this area that are evidence-based and grounded in care, compassion and kindness. There is also no mention of collective bargaining or the living wage and the poverty points are wooly at best. While there are some welcome proposals in other areas, such as the abolition of the carer's means test, implementation will be key. The shelves of Government Departments and State agencies are stacked high with dusty reports and unfinished action plans. The State has long suffered from implementation deficit disorder and nothing in this latest plan indicates that things will be significantly different from the past. We need specific, concrete, measurable, time-bound and achievable actions.

As a representative for Cork, I am disappointed the programme for Government fails to address many of the pressing priorities for our city and our county. Ireland's future development depends on Cork being a sizeable counterbalance to the capital. A simple search of the document shows Cork is only mentioned seven times while Dublin is mentioned 29 times. A more in-depth analysis exposes the absence of a number of key infrastructure projects. There is no mention of the long-overdue Luas for Cork, there is only vague mention of light rail where appropriate. There is no commitment to a new public library for Cork city centre, while the promise to work towards the completion of the events centre does not fill me with hope, given that the sod on that project was turned in 2016 by the then Fine Gael-Labour Government.

At a bigger picture level, the new programme for Government lacks a coherent vision for the State. We need to build a republic of equals, one where everyone has access to affordable housing, quality healthcare, a good education, a decent job and a stable future - a country where there is a social floor below which no one is allowed to fall and a country where everybody has an opportunity to thrive and to flourish. To achieve that we need to move in a new direction and take a different approach. Without that, I strongly suspect that in five years' time we will still face the same crises in health and in housing. I fear we will miss our climate targets and that crucial public services will remain threadbare. None of this is inevitable but, unfortunately, this is the path that has been chosen by the parties in government.

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