Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Question 1: To ask the Taoiseach if he will outline the arrangements he has made to distribute a formal review of the implementation of the Programme for Government. [17275/11]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Question 2: To ask the Taoiseach the measures he will publish in the near future regarding Government performance beyond the 100 day report; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18384/11]

Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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Question 3: To ask the Taoiseach the position regarding the implementation to date of the Programme for Government; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18576/11]

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Question 4: To ask the Taoiseach when he will distribute a formal review of the implementation of the Programme for Government. [18706/11]

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 4, inclusive, together.

In line with established practice, the 100 day progress report on the implementation of the programme for Government was posted on my Department's website on Thursday, 16 June, where it is accessible to all who wish to be informed. I do not propose to circulate a formal report. I envisage that an annual report on progress will be published by my Department and that it will also be posted on its website. When the Government achieves its objectives, periodic press releases will continue to be issued and posted on my Department's or the relevant Department's website, as appropriate.

While my Department co-ordinates policy in a number of ways, responsibility for implementing specific aspects of the programme for Government rests with the relevant Department. Responsibility for implementation rests in the first instance with each Minister, having regard to the programme for Government and the matrix of priorities and responsibilities within and across each portfolio.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Taoiseach for his reply. Three weeks ago the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste held a press conference and issued a document mainly about implementing measures prepared by the last Government. It included almost none of the specific commitments the Taoiseach made in respect of the first 100 days in government, such as his personal diplomatic initiative or his ban on constituency work by Ministers.

The Taoiseach also stated on the "Late Late Show" that he had prepared report cards on all Ministers relating to the implementation of promises. When will we be allowed to see these report cards? Do these score cards exist? If they do, surely the Taoiseach is now in a position to publish them.

This is not a new policy of the Taoiseach. As long ago as 2007, he said he would resign if he did not implement everything he promised. He also said he would agree performance score cards with every Minister and that he would publish them.

Jerry Buttimer (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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It is a good job Deputy Martin did not get one.

Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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Deputy Buttimer would definitely be in trouble.

Jerry Buttimer (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Deputy Martin would get a "no grade".

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Deputy Martin will not see report cards published. It is a matter for engagement with all Ministers. Currently, I am actively involved in holding a series of bilateral meetings with Ministers in respect of their portfolios, responsibility and the programme for Government in so far as it impacts on their Departments and responsibility. I have had a number of such meetings.

The programme for Government sets out the objectives of what the Government intends to achieve over its period in office. At the end of the first 100 days, a progress report on the achievements of the Government in its first 100 days was produced and published and it is on the website for everybody to read.

The question asked by Deputy Martin on publishing, in the near future, a report on the Government's performance beyond the first 100 days report refers to the remaining items in the programme for Government, of which there are many and which we aim to achieve during our period in office.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The 100 days lark was an election gimmick.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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A lark is never a gimmick.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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If one read what the Taoiseach announced during that press conference, it bore no relation to the incredible commitments he made to many people throughout the country on specific items, such as retaining all hospitals, his personal diplomatic initiative, which he has not embarked upon, and many other issues. Now the 100 days has passed, we will go back to an annual review. The Taoiseach said he would not publish a formal review. Why will he not do so?

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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It is already on the Department's website and it is accessible to everybody in the country and beyond.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The 100 days was the election gimmick. There are set procedures in terms of reviewing the programme for Government with every Minister and on informing the public about the degree to which commitments made in the programme are adhered to. Normally, that takes the course of a formal review. Who will conduct and be responsible for that formal review in the Taoiseach's Department?

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Perhaps the Deputy did not hear my reply. I said that from time to time as Ministers and their Departments achieve their objectives, it will be posted on the Department's website for everybody to access and to read. It will be either on my Department's website or on the relevant Minister's one. That is the way the procedure operates. We can collate all of that at the end of the year and have a second collection of achievements from the programme for Government. As objectives and targets are achieved and as issues are deal with, it will be posted on each Minister's website. That is appropriate in order that everybody can access the information and understand progress is being made.

Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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In the programme for Government there is a commitment to a major undertaking to secure burden sharing on an equitable basis, meaning speculating banks should take losses incurred in property gambling, rather than inflicting them on taxpayers. There is a further promise to secure a reduction in the penal and opportunistic interest rates charged by the European Union as part of the programme to save banks from their gambling losses on the backs of the Irish people. In four months not one iota has been achieved in these major objectives which are also fundamental to the national finances. What are the Taoiseach's revised aims?

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy is aware, a figure of approximately €5 billion has been leveraged from subordinated bond investors. The Minister for Finance has made it clear that he intends to have discussions with the European Central Bank in respect of senior bondholders in Anglo Irish Bank commencing in the autumn. An interest rate reduction, agreed in principle at the meeting on 11 March, has not yet been concluded. However, that discussion is continuing.

Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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Has the Government determined the effect of the delays in implementation of the stated programme with regard to the estimated cost to the taxpayer?

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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One would wish these issues could be concluded quickly rather than later. When the Minister for Finance proceeded down the road towards responsibility sharing with subordinated bondholders, he was not aware that court cases would be taken, but that matter has been dealt with to a degree. We cannot provide a date or an absolute conclusion on the matter, as agreement is required on the Government's intention of pursuing senior bondholders in Anglo Irish Bank and a decision cannot be taken unilaterally. As I noted, an interest rate reduction is under continuous discussion with our colleagues in Europe. Responsibility was given to Ministers for Finance to conclude the matter. Irish officials are in constant contact with their colleagues and counterparts to reach a conclusion as quickly as possible.

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Sula leanfaidh mé ar aghaidh le mo cheist, ba mhaith liom comhghairdeas a thabhairt dos na daoine a ghlac páirt ins na Cluichí Oilimpeacha Speisialta. B'fhéidir go mbeadh an Taoiseach sásta comhgairdeas a ghabháil, ar son na Dála, leis na daoine speisialta seo. Rinne siad job iontach ar son na hÉireann. Before I ask my question, there is some good news. I am sure the Taoiseach and other parties will join me in congratulating the 126 Irish athletes who took part in Special Olympic Games. To bring back 107 medals is a fantastic achievement.

It is not good enough to issue an annual report. Sinn Féin has prepared a report on the Government's first 100 days in office which itemises 50 failures.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I have not seen that report.

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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The Government has broken promises made by Fine Gael and, ironically, has kept promises made by Fianna Fáil to pay big bankers and fund toxic banks, etc.

Jerry Buttimer (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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What promises did Sinn Féin keep when in government in the North?

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Will the annual report include information on the U-turns made and failures to keep promises made in the programme for Government?

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Aontaím leis an Teachta gur chóir comhghairdeas a thabhairt dóibh siúd ar fad a ghlac páirt sna Cluichí Oilimpeacha Speisialta. Go mórmhór ó thaobh iad siúd a bhí in éineacht leo, ag tabhairt a chuid ama go deonach gan airgead ar bith a fháil, agus a thaispeáin a suim pearsanta agus chlainne sna cluichí sin, I agree with Deputy Adams. Obviously, I have not seen the report the Deputy's party produced. I know he is a bit touchy about the commitments the Fianna Fáil Party might have entered into.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Clearly, the Taoiseach is not a bit touchy about them.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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As I said in my initial reply-----

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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We are familiar with his zeal to implement them.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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As the various Ministers achieve their targets and objectives, in accordance with the remit that applies to each Department under the programme for Government, those items and matters will be posted publicly on the departmental websites. That is how it should be done. Obviously, later in the year we will have an opportunity to discuss the progress that is being achieved in terms of the programme for Government.

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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This is an important business. Our job is to try to keep the Government accountable. Will the process mentioned by the Taoiseach include the universal social charge, the water charges and the poverty taxes? We compiled our report after 100 days, which was before the revelations about the junior doctors. I invite the Taoiseach to support Sinn Féin's Private Members' motion this evening. Deputies who are present promised their constituents that acute accident and emergency services would be kept open.

Jerry Buttimer (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Sinn Féin did the same thing in the North before the Assembly elections.

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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I invite them to support the Sinn Féin motion later this evening.

Jerry Buttimer (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Sinn Féin cannot have it both ways.

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Will the Taoiseach indicate whether he intends to do so?

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Deputy Adams is learning very fast. He raised the Special Olympic Games, water metering, the universal social charge, junior doctors and his party's Private Members' motion in the context of a question that relates to the distribution of a formal review of the implementation of the programme for Government. I have already pointed out that every Minister will post these results - details of the extent to which the targets they set themselves, and are bound by under the programme for Government, are being achieved - on the website of his or her Department. The question of the universal social charge has been referred to by the Minister for Finance. The programme for Government commits the Government to reviewing the charge before the 2012 budget. The Minister for Finance has said it will be a very difficult budget. The medical and hospital situation will be discussed when the House considers the Sinn Féin Private Members' motion this evening. An amendment to that motion, setting out the Government's concerns, will be proposed by the Minister for Health. On the matter of metering, the question of the payment one will have to make in respect of one's usage of water after one's free allowance has been used is being and will be dealt with by the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I would like to return to one of the other issues covered in the programme for Government. Perhaps the Taoiseach will refer to it in passing. Has the Minister undertaken an internal assessment of the impact the implementation of the legislation providing for the burning of junior bondholders would have on the Irish credit union movement and individual credit unions throughout the country? It is clear when one reflects on the impact of last Friday's decision, for example, that more transparency and clarity is needed in respect of this important matter. We need to consider the impact of such a decision on various credit unions throughout the country. The Taoiseach said the score card issue was a metaphor for something or other. I have to say it sounded great on "The Late Late Show".

John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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I am glad the Deputy was impressed.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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There was a sense that the Taoiseach intended to tackle all the Ministers and haul them in.

Jerry Buttimer (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I am glad the Deputy watched it.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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There was a suggestion that there would be a clear benchmark.

Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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On your bikes.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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He said that if these guys were not doing the business, he would deal with them. We have now been told it was a metaphor for something or other.

Jerry Buttimer (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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It is a bit like the Deputy himself.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I am really intrigued by this. We will have to go back over every interview the Taoiseach did, for example on "The Late Late Show" and with Matt Cooper, to work out what he was really saying, what he really meant and whether we can believe it. I am afraid that seems to be the story. Did this good soundbite come from some focus group?

Ray Butler (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy has been watching too much reality TV.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Was the Taoiseach told to keep talking about score cards-----

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
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All of them were yellow.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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We heard about four or five point plans and all the rest of it.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Does the Deputy need a media analyst?

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The fists were in the air and people were saying: "Let's get Ireland working again." It was great stuff.

Áine Collins (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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I am glad the Deputy was listening.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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It was great theatre, but that is all it seems to have been in terms of the actual beef and what has emerged since.

Jerry Buttimer (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The Taoiseach is the most popular politician in the country.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Deputy Buttimer should have stayed in Killarney.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Deputy Martin is correct to say some bonds are held by some credit unions and by Irish Life & Permanent. The Minister for Finance is examining those matters where bonds are held by a small number of credit unions, and so on.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Would it be possible to share that with us?

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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Put down a question.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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In good spirit, could the Minister share that information with the other Members of the House?

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Put in a parliamentary question and get the answer.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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Let the Taoiseach finish.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I am glad to see that Deputy Martin looks at "The Late Late Show". Let me be clear about this.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I was beginning to believe this transparency stuff.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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The compilation of the report cards to which he referred is a metaphor for the bilateral meetings I have with each Minister about the Departments for which they have responsibility. It is about the political activities and the progress they are making in achieving the requirements of the programme for Government in so far as it relates to their Departments. I have had five or six of those bilateral meetings already and will continue to conclude them in the next fortnight. Thereafter I will have a clearer picture of progress and about the difficulties Ministers see ahead in respect of achieving other targets in so far as their Departments are concerned. As Deputy Martin will be aware, from an economic perspective the situation is challenging and that will require Ministers to focus on the priorities that can be delivered and to maintain services, and at the same time cut out waste and achieve more with less.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Will the Taoiseach publish those?

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I call Deputy Boyd Barrett.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Taoiseach will not publish them.

Deputies:

There will be one for everybody in the audience.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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We will not get the report cards published for assimilation by the electorate.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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We are really disappointed with that.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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These are the requirements of the Taoiseach, that he should know about his Ministers.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I call Deputy Boyd Barrett please.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I am sure the Taoiseach will agree that one of the most pressing issues facing people is the massive unemployment crisis, the fact that close to half a million people are without work and many are leaving because there is no work. The programme for Government stated that job creation was central to any recovery strategy. Given that the public sector recruitment embargo means a slow grinding attrition of jobs, demand is being depressed in the economy because of cuts in income and pay and the bank recapitalisation means the loss of tens of thousands of jobs in the banking sector, where does the Taoiseach see his commitment to job creation in the programme for Government being realised? How will the Taoiseach create jobs as he committed to do in the programme for Government given that everything happening in terms of austerity is working in the opposite direction and is leading to a jobs massacre?

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I did not hear any reports of Deputy Boyd Barrett travelling to all of the businesses in his constituency over the weekend advising that the new internship scheme had been launched last week, which will give opportunities for business to take on exceptionally qualified young graduates to give them a start in the sense of-----

Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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Indentured labour.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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-----allowing them the opportunity to forge a new career or be taken on by companies on a permanent basis.

Deputy Boyd Barrett will be aware that also on 1 July the jobs initiative decisions taken by Government to reduce VAT, to halve PRSI for employers and remove the travel tax kicked in. This is the first direct stimulus to the hospitality tourism sector and those labour intensive areas for job creation and to retain employment. He will also be aware that the pipeline of investment from outside the country remains exceptionally strong and that the work being done by the Government in terms of rebuilding Ireland's reputation continues strongly. The situation in so far as the 12.5% corporation tax rate being unchanged has been made clear and has drawn a strong response from international investors. The decision taken by the Government in respect of the banks allows for a serious extent of credit of €10 billion a year for each of the next three years following the de-leveraging of non-core assets by them. The challenge for us is to stimulate the demand for credit from indigenous industry and a demonstration from banks that it is happening. Certainly, that is a challenge. In my travels throughout the country in the past fortnight, I have encountered a number of small firms, especially in the engineering and software areas, in which there is the potential for an increase in employment and some are making that happen. We must accelerate that and make it clear that the credit now becoming available to banks will be lent under proper conditions and will be proven to be lent to businesses for a change of direction or an expansion of whatever it is they are involved in.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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What targets does the Taoiseach have for net job creation?

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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From this perspective, the continued flexibility, increased productivity and output and the trade surplus in terms of our exports are running strongly. We must restore confidence to the indigenous economy and grow the capacity for small and medium enterprises. This requires credit being available and a demonstration that it can be proven to be lent. In addition, the Government is working on the production of a Bill which will give an insurance guarantee in respect of some credit to assist in that work, which I am sure will be of interest.