Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Some Members of the Opposition have remarked that the programme for Government represents more of the same. Having had some experience of how a programme for Government is put together and implemented I disagree with this point. I see a real difference and a real step backwards in terms of the absence of ambition, the vagueness of timelines and targets and the lack of clear funding commitments in the new programme for Government.

The policy ambition in the new programme for Government, as we have seen with the Government so far, will always come second to prevailing political interests. In 2020 "ambition" was taking unprecedented steps to protect biodiversity and halt nature loss championed by Malcolm Noonan. This ambition was continued throughout the lifetime of the Government, demonstrated by the creation of the climate and nature fund. In 2020 we mobilised the entire political system to publish a climate action law in the first 100 days, delivering change at pace. This legislation proved the importance of ensuring that our emission reduction efforts would be achieved in a just way. In the new programme for Government we get a bare mention of this with no detail. The key decision to ensure Ireland would never be a destination or transit point for LNG gets no reference. We have already seen media briefings predicting a policy change here.

In 2020 clear funding commitments were set out to ensure that spending on public transport infrastructure would be 2:1 over roads. This was achieved. Now, the commitment is gone. This commitment ensured that great progress was made in making our cities and towns safer for walking and cycling. Now, we see no mention of how this spending will be maintained. What of the view that a programme for Government reflects a blending of what the governing parties promised in their manifestos? It is not really clear with this document. I will take one example. There is no mention of a legal right for children to an ECCE place. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael promised this but the programme for Government fails to mention it. Was it just something they said at election time? Did Michael Lowry not like it? We are all left to guess.

It is true that not everything a Government says or does is written in a programme for Government but the programme for Government is critical, especially at the start of a coalition's term. In 2020 that was where the direction was spelled out. It was the contract on which the Government was based. It was necessary in a coalition and it worked. Then, we do not really have a coalition anymore. We have two electoral machines focused on maximising their respective votes, where policy at the centre is simply an arrangement of political preferences and, in between them, a group of Independents whose support has been obtained through ministerial appointment and a web of unseen agreements, and whose commitment to the Government is so half-hearted they want to keep a foot in opposition so they can keep lobbing grenades from the outside while, at the same time, enjoying the benefits of access. The programme for Government speaks to a Government devoid of innovation and afraid to commit to detail, and one which is centred on political expediency rather than on a clear vision.

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