Gillian Toole (Meath East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas to the Independent Technical Group for tabling this motion for discussion this morning.

I will make it slightly smaller and more personal. If you run a home or small business, the word "threat" is also frequently used. There may be internal or external threats. Threat is one part of the business and sporting acronym, SWOT, which stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. I am a firm believer that where there is a threat there is also an opportunity and where there is a weakness there is a strength. We need to be careful about the language we use and about personal commentary on leaders of other areas. At the end of the day, we will still have to sit down and negotiate. We have to stick to the facts and leave personal commentary out of it because it is all observed.

I will go back to small businesses and homes. I remember opening a small business back in the early 1990s and Blanchardstown shopping centre came on stream. It was only an approximately 15 minute drive up the road. That was a threat. It forced me to look at the operations of the business and the conditions and terms of the fantastic team I had with me, many of whom are still with the current owner. It focused the mind on waste, paperwork and the conditions of those working on the team, such as how we got along together, what their needs were, whether their needs were met and, in tandem or balance with that, how we served the customer in a healthcare environment that is heavily regulated, but we got through it. Another threat came along in the foot and mouth epidemic. Again, we pulled together by breaking down the essentials, minimising waste and streamlining the paperwork. Let us cross-reference that with the programme for Government and the messages coming from Europe at the moment about minimising bureaucracy, streamlining red tape and making it easier for business to take place. That process will relieve to a certain extent the burden on the teams of people who have to deliver the different work streams.

Many members have spoken about another area we need to look at, which is local authority waste, different Departments and State and semi-State organisations. Do we need to look at incentivising or penalising senior management? Accountability and all these areas are relevant. Key to all this is people. Even in the age of artificial intelligence and digitisation, at the end of the day, people are central to this. We cannot have a minimisation of services. Healthcare, education, community safety, public transport, and housing are areas we discuss here daily and that we hear about in our community clinics. They cannot be sacrificed. There are opportunities to make savings and we must utilise every one of them. The cost of living has been mentioned by colleagues, as has the area of renewable energy. State investment in that is essential. We cannot allow other jurisdictions to have the majority shareholding. The developer-led model of renewable energy as it currently stands must be investigated and Irish State investment in it must be worked towards.

My final point is about what the Welsh Parliament has done. In 2015, it enacted the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act. It looks at every Government department and Parliament department and plans ahead for two to three generations. We have that opportunity in Ireland because we tend to have multiple steps forward and many more backwards. While the language in the motion is "threat", I would cross-check that with the acronym of SWOT. In the threat, there is an opportunity and in the weakness there is strength. Ní neart go chur le chéile.

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