Derek Nolan (Galway West, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I would like to share time with Deputy Maloney.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Is that agreed? Agreed.

Derek Nolan (Galway West, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

We all remember the general election campaign of three years ago. I have never forgotten one image from the campaign that really sticks in my mind. When I was canvassing near Murrough Avenue in Renmore one day, I met a woman in her mid-60s who was looking forward to retiring and having her working life behind her.

She was absolutely distraught. She was crying at the door and her whole sense of purpose had disappeared. She had put her entire savings from the previous 20 years into bank shares as something secure on which she could rely, but everything she had worked for was completely gone. At the time there was a sense of hopelessness in the air and no sense of where we were going. The only view was that things would get worse. We had just lost or sovereignty two months earlier. People's national pride had been damaged by the country being humiliated into seeking emergency assistance. Nobody would lend to us unless we surrendered our sovereignty and committed to a certain course of action. There was a real sense of despair and hopelessness. There was a sense that what was to come could never live up to what we had before and expectations had been dashed.

Three years ago was my first time to run in a general election. The people I met were generally considerably older than me. I felt a great sense of responsibility at that time. I feel we have been vindicated somewhat by what we have managed to do in the past three years. That sense of pure despair and hopelessness has gone. That sense that the country has nowhere to go but down is gone. There is a creeping sense of confidence that while times are still very difficult, hard decisions remain to be made and we are not out of the woods, we can see a way forward.

In this time that we have allotted to discuss the priorities in the year ahead, it is worth looking back over those three years in order to remember what has changed and why things improved. They have improved because considerable work has been done by Government parties and people across the country to pick the country up by its bootstraps and get it standing tall again with a sense of confidence and purpose for the future.

Of course in the past three years the national discourse was dominated by talk of public finances, GDP growth, interest rates, promissory notes, international lenders and ratings agencies - things that do not connect with people struggling to get by in their lives. It is not something people are inclined to worry about or ought to have to worry about because it is something very technical and obscure. Much of the work we had to do was esoteric. It was something that was unique to us and a certain clique of society that is in that world. The average person felt disconnected from that discussion even though what has happened as a result of tackling some of those issues has been extremely powerful and positive.

We are finally starting to see job creation. People can see that the real bread-and-butter issues are taking top priority. We are seeing successes, going from losing 7,000 jobs every month to now creating 5,000 jobs every month. We need to acknowledge that is a major turnaround and will make a huge difference. For every ten jobs we create, seven further jobs are created in the economy and we will start to see that cumulative effect filtering is way through.

I issue a word of warning. While we need to look at how we use those resources, how we ease tax burdens and how we can roll back on some of the draconian measures taken, the national debate in the next two years cannot focus exclusively on who is going to cut how much tax. If we go through three years of hell and dictatorial attitudes from the troika, involving sacrifices of hard decisions, merely to reduce our public debate to one single issue, we will have done the State a severe disservice.

We have so many more things that we now need to discuss with the freedom we have got. What are we going to do with our resources as they improve? How will we improve the lives of children? How will we ensure people do not just have jobs but have well-paid jobs and security for the future? How will we ensure people have pensions on which they can rely? If they are working and paying into a system there needs to be a reward and security for them. How will we have the best education system in the world in order to ensure in the future the jobs in the emerging world economy come to Ireland and do not go to other countries?

How will we ensure we have participation in society such that people feel connected to it? As citizens of Ireland, people should feel that they participate in the economy and society, to avoid what happened before, which was to leave it to the market and allow the clique at the top take the cream and create a society that suits a certain amount of people who have money already. If as happened before the herd mentality comes back and we are all chasing one goal dictated to us by wealthy individuals, lazy media and so on, we will repeat all the mistakes again.

We need to think about the type of economy we want to build. We need to talk about workers and their role in society. We must cherish the human capital that makes our society and put it at the centre. Workers, who every day bring their children to school, go to work and create wealth, must be at the centre of decision making because they are the ones who create the wealth we can then redistribute to other areas of society to fulfil our societal goals.

We need to get real about public services. We need to provide a proper public service and not one that is simply funded to the level we can afford. We need to know what we want to do with it. What do we want its role in society to be? Ireland has never decided if it wants to be a social democratic society or a conservative society. Does it want to have top class public services or not? We need to have that debate and make a decision. We need to be political about it. There is an anti-politics view that we can just leave things out there and not worry about it because things will happen anyway. That is what got us into this mess. We need to make decisions and have a goal as a society. We spent three years with one national priority, to get rid of the troika, and we need to replace it with a new national priority, which is to create something different from that which went before, something we can be proud of and that will live up to the kind of society we ought to have and would like to see for our children and future generations.

However, I will pick one issue which the Government should prioritise and focus on. While I can compliment and commend the Government on all other issues, I have seen little or no progress on this issue. It is not a very popular issue and does not get much discussion in the media or in this House. I refer to the issue of asylum seekers and the immigration system. I am sick to the teeth of meeting individuals with lives, personalities and families, hopes and dreams, who are stuck in a perpetual system of nihilism, emptiness and idleness because they are trapped in our system if immigration and direct provision.

A number of weeks ago a man told me he had spent eight years living in a hostel in a room shared with other people waiting for the conclusion of his immigration process. That is eight years on €19 a week, not working, not in education, not participating. The strain on that individual as a result of a life of emptiness was visible. If we look back on this period in some years' time and ask what we did with this group of people, I would say that we forced upon them idleness and mental health problems all because we failed to sort out the immigration process. I have raised the issue several times with the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Shatter. I have met him personally about it and I have raised the issue in the Dáil.

We are continually told that a new Bill is on the way to provide for a single-procedure system to streamline, strengthen and improve our immigration system in order to remove this waste of human potential and human capital. Every time I asked - there years ago, two years ago and last Christmas - I have been told it is six months away. I am starting to question whether the issue really is a priority and something the Minister wants to get done. We have managed to get other much more complicated Bills through and we are still waiting for this Bill. While we do that, we are condemning a generation of people seeking protection in our country to this utter waste of their human potential. We need to get this done. It costs nothing to introduce legislation and would save the State money to have a quicker procedure. Let us do something that will not get us headlines or popular support, but is something that is morally right, and right from the point of view of human rights, the individual and humanity. Let us fix this broken immigration and direct provision system.

Eamonn Maloney (Dublin South West, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

It has been a difficult six years for many people in this country with the collapse of the economy and the collapse in the Irish banking system. The outgoing Government and this Government have invested much of their time in the attempt to repair the banking system and regenerate the economy. We are coming from a very bad place because Ireland's reputation suffered greatly as a result of the economic collapse and the banking collapse, not just in terms of ourselves as citizens of the State but internationally also. Someone described inward investment to Ireland in 2008 as being similar to switching off a tap because everything that could go wrong for this country went wrong.

Depending on one's resources, financial standing etc. different sections of society dealt with the collapse in a different way but we should never forget that some people suffered more than others. The thousands of people forced to leave this country, the almost 500,000 people who found themselves without work and on the dole, and people whose homes were threatened due to insecure mortgages are ongoing problems. It is a testament to the character of Irish people that they had any hope to continue in the past six years, given what happened, but I believe we are in a better place today than we were six years ago or even three years ago. That is not to suggest that everything is rectified; it is not.

In commentary both inside this House and outside it I have always found alarming the notion that the new Government that came in three years ago would suddenly find employment for almost 500,000 people and that, in the space of 36 months, it would be able to fix the economy, the banking system etc. Some of the commentary and the narrative has been nothing short of ridiculous. There is not a country in the history of the world whose economy and banking system collapsed but was repaired in 36 months.

Following on from that we are now in a post-bailout system. As politicians we must be mindful not so much of what we want but what the people want. Using the words of those who have suffered the most - those who lost their jobs or were forced to emigrate - people like us should be trying to protect and enhance their future as citizens of this State, be it in terms of employment or protecting the homes of those in difficulties with mortgages etc. Those are the sort of priorities we should focus on in the years ahead, in other words, the people who suffered the most should be out front.

I dislike the phrases "We are all in this together" and "Everyone suffered." That is nonsense. We are not all in this together. The reality is that there are people untouched by the collapse of this economy because of their wealth. In the history of the world it is always the ordinary working man and woman who take the hiding, so to speak, in this situation. We must be mindful of that in terms of what I said earlier and what Deputy Nolan referred to in his contribution about people's welfare. That is the priority.

Leaving aside the recent past what is happening now is that politicians on both sides of the House are rebuilding this country after the tragic loss in terms of the economy and so on but talk of repairing it in 36 months is nonsense. Improvements, albeit marginal improvements, are being made but for ordinary people hope is what they hold onto, namely, the hope of getting a job, having a home and being able to stay in their home. The function of politicians is to generate solutions to these issues and to give people hope and confidence in their future and that of their families. That is not happening at the rate all of us would wish but, nevertheless, there is movement.

To use my constituency as an example, unfortunately, we have the highest level of unemployment in the State, much of it focused around construction workers, tradespeople etc., but we have had notice of a large extension to The Square shopping centre, with an investment of over €50 million. When the planning process is completed construction on the site will involve 170 people and when the project is completed it will provide jobs for almost 400 people. We had also the recent announcement by the Department of Health on an urgent care centre to be located not far from The Square site involving an investment of almost €30 million. That, too, will bring much-needed construction jobs to the area, and one or two more minor construction projects are due to come on-stream also. I am talking about my constituency but these are the type of projects that give people hope because they have been battered, so to speak, something to which all speakers have alluded. Economic recovery is good for everyone because the vast majority of people who are without work want to work, and we should afford them that opportunity.

In terms of the priorities and what we should focus on whether in the year ahead, two years ahead or five years ahead, job creation is the most important issue. It will give people the opportunity of getting up in the morning, going to work and having an independent, disposable income, which gives them back their self-esteem and confidence. The other aspect is that the more people who are working, the more who are paying taxation, and we all know the benefits of that. We can have a better society in which to live and better facilities in the country. Let us look forward to the future in the hope that those who have suffered the most in the past six years will be given hope.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The next speaking slot is shared by Deputies Kelleher, Crowe and Healy-Rae who have ten minutes each.

Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this issue but rather than call this a debate on the priorities for the Government in the year ahead we should rename it a debate outlining failures in many cases with regard to the commitments that were made to the Irish people in 2011. We need only consider the programme for Government and, three years on, extrapolate from it the successes or failures. One would have to say that by any credible stretch of the imagination there has been a great deal of spin as opposed to substance in terms of the Government's performance. I will refer to the health area later.

On taking office this Government's general philosophy was that over the five-year period it would make major contributions in terms of employment. The NewERA document, which was then transposed into Government policy, proposed the creation of 100,000 jobs. We were to have debt restructuring, debt write-down and the stabilisation of the banking system. Reflecting on what has been achieved, one could argue there has been very little movement away from the plan that had been previously put in place and the Government policies that were outlined in the programme for Government have not been supplanted into that.

It is almost a betrayal of its mandate to suggest the Government has adopted the proposals that it put before the Irish people and was elected on.

Reference has to be made to the whole area of the restructuring of debt and debt writedown. There have been great plaudits and much back-slapping on the Government benches with regard to the renegotiation of the promissory notes. None of us at any stage had a lot of joy about the time we had to enter into the promissory notes and make commitments to burden the Irish people for many years but, by an stretch of the imagination, given the vulnerability of the State at the time, decisions had to be made in a very pressurised situation. There is a letter in the Department of Finance from Jean-Claude Trichet, the previous President of the ECB, to the late Brian Lenihan, the then Minister for Finance, with regard to the bailout and the pressure that was put on the sovereign Irish State and its people at the time by the ECB and others to ensure there would be no burning of bondholders, because this might have a contagious effect on the broader euro currency area. On numerous occasions, it has been requested that this letter be released and, on numerous occasions, this has been refused. If it was a letter that was very damaging or indicted the previous Government in some way, I am quite sure the Minister, Deputy Noonan, would have put that into his breast pocket and slipped it out the back door some night. Some night he would have done that, if that was the case. It beggars belief that we are now talking about banking inquiries and everything else-----

Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

A Leas-Cheann Comhairle, that is a very unfair allegation. The Deputy is suggesting the Minister for Finance is guilty of theft.

Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

No, I am suggesting he would copy it. Do not be ridiculous.

Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Deputy said he would have slipped it into his pocket and taken it out.

Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

That is nonsense.

Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

It is nonsense that the Deputy should say it.

Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

There is a letter inside in the Department of Finance, and I am saying-----

Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Deputy said that if it was a negative letter, he would have slipped it into his pocket and he would have taken it out.

Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

-----if that was damaging, it would have been leaked at this stage.

Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Deputy said he would have slipped it into his pocket and he would have taken it out the door.

Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

This Government spends its time spinning absolute-----

Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Deputy should withdraw that remark.

Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I am being interrupted.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Deputy should continue his contribution.

Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

He should withdraw that remark.

Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I am entitled to speak.

Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

It is alleging misconduct on the part of the Minister.

Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I say again that if this letter was indicting that Government, I am quite sure it would have been leaked, like everything else that has been leaked by this Government in recent times.

Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Deputy said he would have slipped it into his pocket and he would have taken it out of the Department.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Deputy has clarified that.

Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

His words are on the record already, so he should not be changing them.

Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

My words will remain on the record.

Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

He is now saying the Minister would have leaked it.

Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

What I am saying is that if we want to get to the bottom of what happened, we need an honest debate about where we were, how we got there and how we are trying to get out of there. It would be appropriate for this Government to be more up-front in all its dealings with regard to the Irish people in terms of sovereign debt, bank recapitalisation and retrospective bank recapitalisation. These are the key issues. They are the central tenets on which the Government was elected from this side of the House.

We can talk about the past in its entirety, but when Government members were on this side of the House, every morning it was a scorched earth policy of opposition. They can say anything they like about this Opposition but, in fairness, when we believe something is right and proper, we support it. At the time, however, it was a scorched earth policy, particularly that pursued by the Tánaiste, Deputy Gilmore, when in opposition. Take, for example, the establishment of NAMA. NAMA was brought in for a specific purpose, namely, to try to stabilise the bank balance sheets, which were impaired to a certain extent, and to transfer the debt. Day in, day out, the leader of the Labour Party consistently insinuated that it was being established to bail out individuals, developers and others. The Government has now been in office for three years but it has not changed as much as one sentence or comma of the legislation underpinning NAMA. That is because it was set up for a specific purpose when the State was at its most vulnerable. Yet, when they were in opposition, they consistently tried to undermine it, not for any ideological reason but for no reason other than bare-faced opposition when this State probably needed a little bit of united support in order to face the abyss before it.

With regard to the health services, the Minister for Health gave an interview today congratulating himself and slapping his own back for his achievements in office in the past three years. In the same breath, he then announced there will be a delay in the rollout of universal health insurance, that the White Paper will not be published for some time and even that it will not be a White Paper at all but a Green Paper, and that this will go into a consultative mode for the next year or so. On any critical analysis, this is simply a slap in the face to the Minister for Health by his Cabinet colleagues. The Minister for Finance and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform have both decided that the Minister for Health's handling of universal health insurance has been bungled, to say the least, given he could waltz into a Cabinet sub-committee meeting without any costings, any analysis or any idea of the impact it might have on the cost of providing compulsory private health insurance to families throughout this country or on the funding of services. None of this was done. This is a central plank of how we are going to fund the second largest spending Department, which needs to be guaranteed a certain source of funding every year to provide basic services, yet the Minister in charge of that Department has no notion of the cost of the policies he is pursuing or of how it will impact on the health services. Just as importantly, he has no notion of how it will impact on citizens who will not be asked but forced to take out universal health insurance, because it will be compulsory. It beggars belief that a senior Minister could, after three years in government, come forward with a piece of paper that effectively had no costings and no impact analysis on the provision of services.

We are discussing priorities for the year ahead and it is March 2014. I want to look at the priorities for 2013 because to analyse retrospectively the Government's performance would be better than hoping it will be better this time around. The 2013 priorities stated that the Department of Health would publish a White Paper on universal health insurance in 2013, but that was not delivered. The Department was to establish a new patient safety agency on an administrative basis in 2013, and that was delivered in 2014, thanks very much. There was a commitment the Department would work with the HSE and the State Claims Agency to develop a risk-based approach to provision of indemnity to services and professions by the end of 2013, and that was not delivered either. We can go on and on.

What I find most amazing of all is the issue of the funding and delivery of services and, more importantly, the cutbacks to services, all of which have been targeted at the most vulnerable. We have time and again, year in, year out, a readjustment of the HSE budget in September or October. Every year, this targets the most vulnerable. There are cuts to home helps and personal assistants and the increase in prescription charges. Does the Minister of State have any concept of what €25 per month means to people on a fixed income? The Minister for Health, when he was in opposition, told us that our introduction of a 50 cent prescription charge per item would have an impact on people's ability to access medication. He said it would even cost lives because it would deter people from taking medication. The same Minister, not in opposition but in government, promised he would get rid of the prescription charge in April 2011, yet in March 2014, three years into his tenure, we find that prescription charges have increased fivefold. I would like to know from the Minister what is the difference between March 2011 and March 2014. Other than the passing of three years, there is no difference at all. What has happened is that ordinary people have been penalised, particularly those on fixed incomes who cannot access medication because it is costing them up to €25 a month.

By any stretch of the imagination, this debate should have facilitated us to scrutinise the Government's record to date, not allowed the Government to engage in self-congratulation on the benches opposite, pretending and spinning that it has done a good job. This has been a shameful exercise for the last two weeks.

Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

In 2011 we saw a big shake-up and there was the potential for a realignment of Irish politics. As someone who had left this House and came back in that year, I could see the change not just because of the change in Government but also the depleted Fianna Fáil benches, and I got a sense that things were going to be different. We know that the new Government fought the election on the basis that it was going to bring in change and that there was going to be a new direction and a new approach.

Perhaps I am biased but I think the consensus among most people is that this has not happened. The question arises as to why it has not happened. The Government will say that it was because it did not realise the country was in such difficult economic circumstances and it did not have the inside track on figures and so on. Many people get annoyed and start to disagree with Government spokespersons because they have not seen the new direction and approach. It is much the same. I must agree with the previous speaker in that much of what has been adopted by the Government was proposed by the previous Administration.

People say that there was cronyism and there is anger and frustration among voters about what happened previously. There have been scandals. One looks at the recent GSOC scandal and what many people would regard as the stroke politics of the Minister for Health in respect of the debacle that led to a Minister of State walking out of Government over primary care. My constituency suffered the fallout from that. Some of that money was to have gone into my constituency where people were crying out for primary care services. That is impacting people's health and the local hospital.

I was interested to hear what my constituency colleague, Deputy Maloney, said about the lack of hope. He is right. All of us have a responsibility to give people hope that change is possible. The fact that things did not change and there was no new approach leads people to say that politicians are all the same and say one thing in opposition and do the opposite in government. This undermines politics and politicians. Ministers saying that one says this when one is in opposition does not help us when we try to convince people not only to be active in politics but, at a basic level, to go out and vote.

There were promises of job creation but youth unemployment is nearly 30%. Again, my constituency colleague was talking about Dublin South West, which has some of the highest unemployment rates in the country. We have a youthful population, which is positive, but many of those young people are out of work and the Government has cut the dole for those aged under 25. Again, this places huge pressure on families and individuals. The Deputy spoke about some positive things that might be coming down the track, for example, construction jobs. I do not take any pleasure in saying that one of the Government's failures is the fact that according to people in the construction industry, there are problems with the way some of the jobs proposed in the stimulus package are being put out to tender. Companies are coming in and underpricing jobs. The Government could look at that. Many of the bigger jobs in construction are being awarded to companies that are clearly not compliant and that hire subcontractors, many of whom are from outside the State and are undercutting legitimate companies that are trying to pay people's wages at the proper rate and work to union agreements. There is a difficulty there. Even the small stimulus package put forward by the Government is causing problems.

Drug dealing is increasing in towns and cities across Ireland. We have seen the Garda response and there have been huge successes in my constituency. However, drugs of all types are being sold openly only a couple of hundred yards away so that is a difficulty, a political failure and a failure on the part of the Department. During this Government's tenure, there has been a cut of almost 20% in drugs task force areas. At the same time, we are dealing with the growing availability of drugs. There is no funding for emerging needs or those communities that are at the coal face and trying to deal with the problem. This difficulty needs to be addressed but I do not think any other speaker has touched on that area. It is something that can and needs to be done.

There have been difficulties with the EU. One memorable stated commitment was to extend the scope of bank liability to include unsecured and unguaranteed senior bonds. The ECB has appeared to say "No" and that seems to be that. All the talk of game changers and new beginnings fell flat and the good old Irish taxpayer was left carrying the can and continuing to foot the bill. There was all sorts of backslapping at the weekend regarding Angela Merkel but there was no talk of her in respect of it. She was saying how successful we are but nobody is talking about the difficulty, pain and hardship that the policies she has pushed have caused people not only in Ireland, but across Europe.

The Government has also reneged on commitments to reform how the Oireachtas conducts EU business. I have just come from a meeting of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on European Union Affairs. It is the usual thing. There was talk of full scrutiny of EU draft proposals but this has not really happened. There was talk of systems being put in place to ensure Ministers did not bypass the Oireachtas and make decisions in Brussels on EU matters before those matters are subjected to scrutiny by the Oireachtas. Again, this has not really happened. Other countries are much more inclusive. For all the talk of Dáil reform, there have been no real examples. The scrutiny of EU affairs in Denmark involves the Government and the Opposition. There is dialogue there.

In respect of the review of the foreign aid budget, the Minister of State has stated that the Government will not reach the target. Again, there does not seem to be a plan regarding how we are going to do that. That is causing concern. Dóchas has rightly said that by abandoning this commitment, Ireland is not only endangering vital relief and development programmes, but it is also in danger of damaging the international goodwill it has built up through its aid programme. Again, there is much more to do here.

Promises were made regarding positioning Ireland and Shannon Airport in particular to become an international hub for storage and distribution of emergency humanitarian supplies. It was promised that the Government would enforce the prohibition on the use of Irish airspace, airports and related facilities that is not in line with the dictates of international law. This has not really happened. We are all aware that a woman is in jail in respect of what is happening at Shannon Airport, which is still being used for an illegal war in Iraq. Most fair-minded people would say that the Government has reneged on that commitment. If people say that this is not happening, there clearly needs to be an investigation into extraordinary rendition and human rights abuses in respect of Shannon Airport. There needs to be an independent investigation. We have no problem quoting human rights organisations like Amnesty International when they condemn breaches of human rights around the world so if they are claiming that this is happening in respect of Shannon Airport, why can we not use their claims as a means to an investigation? That would enhance our reputation and move us forward into a new era.

Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank the Technical Group for allowing me some of its speaking time on this important matter. What happened in the Chamber last week was a disgrace. Much time was taken up by the Government clapping itself on the back for what it called a job well done. I will highlight a couple of the Government's measures that it did not need to take but which have had detrimental effects on rural Ireland in particular and no economic benefit.

Unfortunately, the coming weeks and months will be the closing period for our town councils. They have served our communities excellently for many decades. People from all political parties and none made valuable contributions thereon. It was galling for me to go on a local radio show alongside a Government-supporting Deputy who was complimenting town councillors but voting in the Dáil to abolish them. Either one believes they are good and fulfilling an important role or one does not. I have also endured Government backbenchers attending constituency meetings and agreeing that, for example, the closure of Garda stations is awful and should not happen despite voting in the Dáil for their closure before returning to Kerry alongside Ministers to try to make out to their communities that giving back the stations that they took away in the first instance is actually a good thing because it costs more to keep them closed than it does to keep them open. I proved beyond all doubt in the Chamber that it costs more to keep a rural station closed. The Minister misled the House when he initially claimed that he was closing stations to save money. Now, Government Deputies claim that they are trying to give the stations back to communities or to get rid of them.

In a recent reply, the Minister told me that 40 former Garda stations had been identified for disposal on the open market and auctioneers had been appointed to manage their sale, with eight to be auctioned to the public at the end of March 2014 and the remainder to be offered for sale to the public in the coming months. What would the politicians who used to be in the Dáil during previous difficult times say about the Government selling off these assets and closing town councils?

Local development companies have done excellent work and administered funds in a prudent fashion. They have started up many small businesses throughout the country and much of the work they undertake is priceless. They have set people up in businesses that are continuing to grow and create jobs, not just for the people themselves but for their friends and neighbours. The Government in its wisdom believes that breaking up this structure and placing the local development companies under the umbrella of the local authorities is the right action to take, just as it believes that breaking up the town councils is the right action. We will not only lose our town councillors but our town engineers, town clerks, planning departments and environmental sections as well. The entire lot will be thrown into the county authority. This will do no good for the delivery of services to people living in estates, the elderly or business people. The town councils work in conjunction with chambers of commerce, Tidy Towns groups and other social groups but that entire structure is being done away with because the Minister, Deputy Hogan, believes it is a good idea. Time will prove how wrong it is.

The late journalist, Mr. John Healy, wrote "No one shouted stop". Given some of the Government decisions being taken, someone should be shouting "Stop". Time will prove that some of those decisions are poor. This morning, people from An Post attended an Oireachtas committee. Two weeks ago, the Technical Group introduced a Private Members' motion on behalf of the Irish Postmasters Union, IPU. Thousands of people from west Cork, Donegal, south Kerry, north Kerry, west Kerry, east Kerry, Galway and all over the country protested outside the Dáil because they wanted to keep rural post offices open. Ironically, in December 2006, Fine Gael tabled a motion similar to the Technical Group's recent one seeking the then Government to place an emphasis on retaining the network. In government, however, Fine Gael would not support the Technical Group and IPU motion, which was intended to give people confidence in their post offices and to enhance the services provided by the network.

We have lost many rural pubs and shops. Everything is seemingly being centralised, but is that any wonder? The Government is heavy with Ministers from Dublin who believe that the world stops at the Red Cow roundabout. They should be given Sat Navs to show that there is more to the country than Dublin. People who are supposedly charged with creating employment are only sending jobs to Dublin, Cork and Limerick. I wonder why.

Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Bring back John O'Donoghue.

Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State cannot talk about what jobs the Government and the IDA have created in places like County Kerry.

Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Jobs are being created across the country. Check the CSO figures. Kerry is getting a greater share than elsewhere.

Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

With all due respect, come down to Kerry with me on Friday and I will show the Minister of State people who are desperately seeking jobs-----

Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Check the figures.

Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Tell that to the young people who have been forced to emigrate or to their parents and their grandparents. Those young people are in Australia, New York and England. The Government has done nothing to keep them at home.

Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Some 61,000 jobs were created last year.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Deputy Healy-Rae without interruption, please.

Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

This week's Private Members' motion relates to the ridiculous 25% cut to local authorities of recent years. More than ever before, we need local authorities to employ people to do the ordinary types of work that have been done for years. Is it any wonder that when people travel the roads of Ireland, no drains are being opened and no hedges are being cut? There is a race to the bottom because the embargo prevents local authorities from hiring people. Staffing levels in local authorities must be increased. Never was there more work to be done but so few to do it. Privatisation is not the answer. We used to have excellent people who knew what work needed to be done in their areas and went about doing it diligently. Due to Government decisions, unfortunately, there has been a 25% reduction in staffing levels.

Ironically, the Government believes it is a good idea to stop all business just to compliment itself for a couple of days. It is cynical and people around the country are laughing at it. If Ministers, who seem detached from reality, lived with people who were trying to find work, pay mortgages and send young children to school, they would not want to see Members praising them for a couple of days. God knows, when people look back on all of this, the Government's record of hurting certain sectors of society will be famously remembered. Its backbenchers have blindly supported key decisions. Some of them will go before the people during the May European elections. In two years time, they will go before the people during the general election. The people will give their answer. They will bite back and fight back.

John Deasy (Waterford, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I am here not to talk about the Government's priorities for the year ahead but rather to discuss what should be a Government priority but is not. I refer to jobs and investment in parts of the country which have seen no economic lift to date. There are significant areas which are almost untouched by the fragile recovery we have seen in some of the larger urban areas like Cork and Dublin. In cities like Waterford, economic measures demonstrate that a downward trend is still being experienced. After three years in office, the Government's investment strategy has not worked. The question for the Government and its development agencies, including the IDA, is how they will incentivise jobs and investment in parts of the country which still have an unemployment rate of 20% or higher.

I read the contribution to this debate given last week by the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Richard Bruton. The only reference he made to regional development was one line to the effect that all regions had experienced job growth over the past 12 months. It does not appear to be a priority for the Government that the disparity in foreign direct investment figures for different parts of the country is both large and growing. I have concluded that as long as the headline figures for the country as a whole are positive, the virtual non-existence of regional investment is considered irrelevant. My theory is borne out by documents like the 2014 Action Plan for Jobs. The only tangible investment for the regions cited in that document relates to advanced manufacturing facilities - one in Waterford and one in Athlone - and some office space in Letterkenny. The rest of the document is repetitive. I have heard it all before. There is very little in the plan on the devising of a strategy to balance foreign direct investment across the country. There is almost a sense of resignation about the fact that so much investment - 82% - goes to Cork, Dublin and Galway and so little goes elsewhere.

This brings one to the question of what to do about it. I have two specific suggestions, the first of which relates to the €6.8 billion which will comprise the strategic investment fund. It is intended that the fund will match up with private sector investment and it is hoped the overall amount invested will be €12 to €15 billion. This is the only show in town. It is the only stimulus package the country will see for the next five or six years. The key principles of the fund are the pursuit of commercial return, which must be at the very least greater than the cost to the State of borrowing money, while targeting investments that support economic growth and jobs. It will also seek to involve private sector co-investment and recycling of capital to allow new investments to maximise the effect on the economy. Hopefully, private sector co-investment will include those SMEs mentioned by Professor Morgan Kelly recently. I wonder.

It was announced that a key aspect of the fund will be isolating it from political interference. That is fair enough and something I understand. We must guard against base political tendencies influencing how the stimulus package is divided up. The relevant legislation must be clear about what the fund is intended to achieve. Definitive policy will be necessary when it comes to devising the legislation which will determine in broad terms how and when the money is spent. There must be heightened sensitivity to the prospect of undue political influence. The key point is that this strategic investment fund of €6.8 billion must be predominantly and proportionately invested in those parts of the country which have seen the least investment over the last ten to 15 years. While that is a reasonable logic, it will not make sense to some politicians who see an election on the horizon and a potential lump of money for their own constituencies. It may not even make sense to some in the private sector who do not understand the nature of our two-tier economy and evolving two-tier recovery. It should make sense, however, to any government which is interested in balanced regional development. For that reason, it should be a priority for the year ahead for the Government.

Someone might ask what is my model or framework for this. The answer is simple. Regional aid guidelines will be published in July by the European Commission and will take into account unemployment rates and factors such as the potential for growth. There is already a national and European acceptance that the regions are unequal and some need more financial support than others. There is already an incentive system based on economic facts and figures. The head of the IDA has said that regional aid guidelines and incentives have not worked in the past and are not working now. One is left to conclude that balanced foreign direct investment into all of the regions has not happened. The regional aid incentives have not worked. It is therefore logical to adopt a policy to weigh the amount of strategic investment funding in favour of those parts of the country with the highest unemployment and lowest growth levels. The level of investment should be based on the European Commission's own regional aid guidelines rather than on the subjective opinions of people in the House who may have their own political considerations. When the legislation is published and comes before the House, if the issues I have set out are not considered, I will attempt to amend the Bill at the very least to highlight the scenario I have just painted.

A second solution to the lack of investment in the regions involves the IDA specifically and a recent announcement that funding for 35 additional staff had been authorised. Countless small businesses in Waterford city in my constituency have closed in the last year, including flagship shops, long-established pubs and major industrial employers. They have included Diageo, Honeywell, Citibank, Centra, Intacta Print and B&Q. In January, the IDA's job creation figures for 2013 showed Cork was up 1,441 jobs, Galway was up 705 jobs, Limerick was up 289 and Dundalk was up 504. Waterford was a notable exception. One observer of the economic situation locally in Waterford has estimated that approximately 200 IDA jobs were lost on a net basis in the city in 2013 and that 2,441 jobs were lost between 2008 and 2012, a period in which only 581 jobs were created. Improvements in the live register figures must be considered in the context of the huge number of jobs Waterford has haemorrhaged over the past six years.

I have looked at the locations of the IDA's existing staff. There are 36 in Athlone, two in Dundalk, one in Cavan, six in Cork, three in Galway, one in Letterkenny, five in Limerick, nine in Sligo, five in Waterford and 148 in Dublin. If the Government is to make regional development a priority this year, a good start will be to deploy the 35 new staff in the IDA in the regions which have seen the least amount of foreign direct investment over the last ten to 15 years. There are people at the most senior level in the IDA who believe the policy designed to attract foreign direct investment evenly across the State has failed miserably and must be re-engineered immediately. If the Government deployed the 35 staff into those places worst affected by the recession and least affected by foreign direct investment, it would send a significant message to the regions.

I sound a warning on the strategic investment fund of €6.8 billion. It cannot end up being a political pie, gobbled up by insecure politicians with one eye on a general election. For many regions, it is the only chance they have of a stimulus over the next five or six years. It must be targeted and it must be focused on the areas in which it is needed most. It is most needed in those areas in which the economic indicators of decline are at their highest levels.

That is a reasonable priority for any Government.

John O'Mahony (Mayo, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I propose to share time with Deputy Alan Farrell.

I concur with many of the points Deputy Deasy made on the need for new jobs to be spread more evenly in geographic terms. I will return to this issue and how it affects my constituency in a moment.

I regret that Deputy Healy-Rae has left the Chamber. He criticised the Government for engaging in spin and accused it of hypocrisy before raising the issue of post offices. Of approximately 2,000 post offices in the network in 2001, approximately 853 closed under previous Governments in the period from 2001 until 2011 and 14 have closed since the current Government was elected. While I do not claim the Government has done everything right - mistakes have been made and other options could have taken in certain matters - it is important to bring balance to this issue and I hope to do so in the few minutes available to me.

Since the Government took office, the turbulence that rocked the country and wreaked havoc on the lives of thousands has been replaced by a sense of stability. In 2007 and 2008, it was predicted that the economy would experience a soft landing and the economic downturn would be a blip. These predictions proved groundless and the Government faced a mammoth task when it took power in 2011. Record numbers of businesses were failing, the construction industry was imploding and the only funding available to the State was from European institutions and the International Monetary Fund. It seemed the Government faced an impossible task. As a result, it was forced to make difficult decisions which affected every household either in terms of employment or income. In short, the Government had to reduce expenditure while, at the same time, protecting employment and creating new jobs. Furthermore, Ireland's international credibility was at rock bottom and needed to be restored. At a macro level, the Government had many balls in the air at once and at a micro level Deputies had many issues to contend with in their constituencies. The task facing us was not an easy one.

The Government's many successes include the reduction in the interest rate on the promissory notes, the increase of 61,000 in the number of people in employment last year compared to 2012 and a decline in the number of people on the live register for 20 months in succession. It is accepted, however, that many challenges lie ahead. For example, we must still balance the budget. In matching income with expenditure, we must try to continue to bring employment to a level that is as close to full employment as possible and ensure the thousands of people who had to leave our shores have an opportunity to return if they so wish.

If one drew a line across the centre of the Chamber, the Government side would see the glass as half full, while the Opposition side would see it as half empty. However, such an exercise would not bring us any further. Viewed another way, if the Government could have looked three years into the future when it entered office - irrespective of which parties were elected - I believe it would still have taken the current path it is on. While the job is by no means finished, the step-by-step approach the Government has pursued has yielded some success. I accept, however, that this will come as little consolation to those who do not have a job, are in mortgage distress or have homes in negative equity. People are still hurting despite the stability that has been achieved and the platform that has been created.

Tourism is one of a number of successes achieved in recent years. The reduction to 9% in the VAT rate for the tourism industry, the abolition of the travel tax and the marketing of The Gathering last year have contributed to this success. Deputy Deasy referred to the uneven geographical spread of the new jobs being created. From my observations, the recent growth in tourism appears to have been evenly spread.

Last year, almost 700,000 passengers used Ireland West Airport Knock. I chaired a study group which produced a report setting out recommendations aimed at increasing passenger numbers at the airport to 1.2 million per annum. I welcome the Government's decision to extend funding for regional airports for ten years, rather than eliminate it at the end of 2014, as had been originally envisaged. Our report estimated that €36 million will be required if the airport is to achieve its potential. Ireland West Airport Knock serves the entire west and north west region. If it achieves growth, thousands of jobs could spin off for County Donegal, County Galway, the midlands and elsewhere. In the immediate aftermath of the abolition of the air travel tax, a number of new routes were added at the airport. These will result in an increase of 80,000 in passenger numbers and generate further employment.

Much work has been done to encourage inward investment and job creation. Increasing the number of people in employment by 61,000 last year was a major achievement. The positive effects of employment growth and the green shoots of recovery can be seen primarily in urban areas. While cities and towns clearly need employment growth given their populations, delivering jobs to smaller towns and villages is proving a problem. In County Mayo, Allergan in Westport is expanding, while Northgate has started operations in Castlebar. On the other hand, jobs have been lost at Homecare Medical Supplies and 700 jobs are under threat at Elvery's which employs 180 people in County Mayo. The proposed management buy-out of Elvery's should proceed to ensure jobs at the company are protected. The loss of 180 jobs in Mayo would be equivalent to the loss of 1,000 jobs in Dublin.

To return to the need to ensure a better spread of new jobs, it will be necessary to review IDA policies and strategy. The two major employers in my constituency base of Claremorris, CBE Limited and DeCare Dental, established operations in the town as a result of a local connection to the town rather than any efforts made by the IDA. Between them, these two companies employ upwards of 400 people. What this example shows is that the criteria applied by the IDA result in many areas that need employment failing to secure new jobs. Claremorris has a MAN or metropolitan area network, a fibre network that makes the town an ideal location for investment. A greater geographical spread of investment is required. Thirty or 40 jobs in small towns such as Ballyhaunis, Kiltimagh, Knock, Charlestown, Swinford, Foxford or Ballinrobe would be equivalent to 500 jobs in a large urban centre.

The Mayo County Manager and head of the county council's enterprise section are enthusiastically pressing ahead with the establishment of local employment offices or LEOs. These offices can provide mentoring for small businesses that deliver two, five or ten jobs. In some ways, these jobs have a more lasting effect than major investments. The local employment offices offer great potential in that regard.

There are challenges ahead. A big issue for my county is that of grid network infrastructure. All of this requires community buy-in. I welcome the establishment of an independent commission to investigate undergrounding of the pylons. If we continue to steamroll communities, progress will not be made. It is not an option either to do nothing. There is a need for a meeting of minds on this issue and for community buy-in. While much progress has been made more needs to be done. I have no doubt the Government will not take its eye off the ball in the years ahead.

Alan Farrell (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Donohoe, to the House. The past three years in Ireland have not been easy. I do not believe anybody is under any illusions in that regard, particularly the 450,000 people who were unemployed when this Government took office on 9 March 2011. At that time, our economy was in ruin, we had lost our economic sovereignty and the prospects of an entire generation had evaporated simply because the political establishment of the day was too weak to deal with the mistakes it had made and the problems it had created. The political system was unable to answer the questions being levied upon it by an increasingly angry electorate.

This Government inherited a dysfunctional country, one which was unable to secure funding for the provision of services which we all take for granted. What has occurred over the past three years is nothing short of remarkable. What occurred rests squarely on the shoulders of the Irish people in terms of the sacrifices they made. It is the Irish people and not the Government I wish to compliment this afternoon. Without the contribution and sacrifices of the Irish people, none of this would have been possible. There has been much discussion on the Government's priorities for the year ahead and the Government's approach to our economy and the economic restoration project in which we have been engaged for the past three years. Although extremely difficult decisions have had to be made over the past three years, without the sacrifices of the Irish people we would not have reached where we are so quickly and most certainly would not have been able to create as many jobs as have been created during the past three years, particularly the last two years.

The Fine Gael-Labour Party coalition took office when the country was at its lowest ebb. It could be argued it was at its lowest ebb since the foundation of the State. With the forbearance of the Irish people, we have managed to instil confidence and stability and to foster a growth that was painfully absent in previous years. This confidence and stability brought 58,000 new jobs to our shores during the past 12 months, 900 of which I am pleased to say were in my constituency.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Some 61,000 jobs have been created.

Alan Farrell (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Pardon?

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Deputy Farrell without interruption, please.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The figure being quoted is 61,000.

Alan Farrell (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. As I stated earlier, incredibly, some 1,200 jobs per week are now being created, against the backdrop of the 1,600 jobs per month being lost in the previous years. This Government has managed to restore our economic sovereignty having met virtually all of the criterion agreed to by the previous Administration with the troika. We have re-established ourselves at the heart of a troubled Europe and restored our reputation in the process. Our six month presidency of the European Council was greeted as a success and the markets have responded appropriately.

The buzzword from 2008 to 2010 was bondwatch. I recall it featuring daily in the newspapers. It even had its own hashtag on Twitter, reporting the yield of the day, which while at 14% prior to this Government taking office in 2011 is now at 3%. Nobody in Fine Gael said restoring our economy would be an easy task. We knew difficult decisions had to be made and that there was no silver bullet or magic wand in that regard. We knew there would be hurt but we knew progress was necessary to restore the level of jobs required to sustain our economy. Our progress deserves an airing. I have been frustrated during the past few weeks by Deputies opposite berating the Government for daring to have this debate. It is important that every now and again we remind people, in particular the media which is constantly hungry for bad news stories and often misses the good news, of the stories of hope and progress. While some dire situations remain we are trying to address them. Constant doom and gloom makes it difficult for anybody to be anything other than cynical about politics, politicians and elections.

In terms of business and enterprise, red tape has been removed, incentivisation programmes have been created, business support systems have been improved and a one-stop-shop for enterprise has been created in the community through the new LEO offices referred to earlier by Deputy O'Mahony. In the area of health, waiting lists in many areas have been decimated. Enormous progress is also being made on rolling out the huge programme of reform envisaged in the programme for Government. The Department of Health was and continues to be one of the most difficult portfolios for any Minister. I commend my constituency colleague, the Minister for Health, Deputy Reilly, and his Ministers of State, Deputies Alex White and Kathleen Lynch, for their work in that Department.

In terms of Dáil reform, which invariably is about reducing or improving the amount of time Members spend in this Chamber or the Seanad, the number of committees has been reduced from 25 to 16, payments for vice chairpersons and convenors have been abolished, entitlement to ministerial cars-drivers have been abolished, as per a commitment in the Fine Gael manifesto, and the number of sitting days has been increased by 32.3%. A Topical Issue Debate, committee debates in the Chamber and Friday sittings have been introduced. Deputies' pay and pension entitlements have been reduced and the right to draw a pension while being a sitting Member has been abolished. We have scythed off an enormous amount of the expenses to which Members of both Houses were entitled and have made the whole process more transparent and accountable. I acknowledge that some of this work was commenced by the previous Administration. It was then necessary for this Government to take further steps to reduce the pay and expenses regimes of the Houses.

In terms of education, millions of euros has been spent on new school buildings, including one for St. Oliver Plunkett's national school in Malahide, which it has been seeking since I became involved in politics ten years ago. Despite that the previous Administration failed to recognise the requirement for new school buildings we have managed to find the money for an ever increasing demand for new school buildings. We have done away with the pointless renting of prefabs where it makes no economic sense to continue doing so and are instead constructing new classrooms.

We recognise the enormous growth in the population and are making appropriate plans to deal with this. Earlier today, we announced the establishment of five new schools throughout the country to deal with the issue of choice in the context of patronage. We live in a diverse society and this must be recognised. It is important that we take steps to provide education that is not necessarily denominational in nature. In addition, we must be able to cater for the various demands placed on the education system.

The preservation of our heritage, both built and ancient, is of paramount importance to me. I am pleased that the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Deputy Deenihan, and the Minister of State at the Departments of Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Brian Hayes, have been able to invest in our built infrastructure. Even only a small investment can guarantee the security of buildings at risk in years to come.

We have also responded quickly and decisively with regard to the recent storms which beset the country, particularly its western coast. A small amount of funding allocated for repairs was given to my constituency. However, Clare received €20 million and this reflects the damage that was done during the two-week period when the country was hit by the storms in question.

In the context of local government, we have radically changed the structures of our councils. We are about to abolish 83 town councils, which have 71 days to transfer their responsibilities to their parent councils. In addition, the number of councillors will be reduced from 1,627 to 950 following May's local elections.

A total of €68 million in funding has been allocated toward the provision of local authority housing. While I commend the relevant Minister on this and on finding €4.7 million for my constituency, which is located close to Dublin Airport, it is clearly not enough. However, doing nothing is not an option. I commend the Government on finding the funding in the first instance and I hope that in the coming months and years we will be in a position to try to respond to the enormous demands being placed on the social housing infrastructure provided by local authorities throughout the country.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Next we have 30 minutes of speaking time for the Opposition. I understand Deputies Ó Cuív, Martin Ferris and Tom Fleming will be sharing time equally.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

That is correct. I am delighted the Minister of State, Deputy Donohoe, is present. I listened to his performance on radio on Saturday afternoon last between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. Twice during the programme he repeated the claim that 61,000 jobs were created in our economy in the past year. That claim has been repeated ad nauseam during this debate. I have always been one to acknowledge if a person in direct opposition to me politically does something right and if I am corrected in respect of a particular matter, I accept it. In recent years, however, I have found the level of propaganda rather than analysis and truth to be quite mind-boggling.

I do not know whether the Minister of State has considered the detailed statistics which lie behind the claim that 61,000 jobs were created in the past year. Does he really believe that 61,000 jobs were created during the past 12 months? If he does, then he believes that there was a 30% increase in employment in agriculture, fisheries and forestry. Does he really believe that this was the case during the worst year we have experienced? Does he believe that employment in the area of agriculture has increased by 30% and that 26,800 additional jobs have been created on farms? He knows immediately that this is not true. All he needs to do to establish that it is not true is check the number of single farm applications. If he does so, he will discover that the number of such applications received was not significantly different to that received during the previous year. If the Minister of State believes the claim with regard to the creation of 61,000 additional jobs last year, then he also believes that there was a 30% increase in the number created in the area of agriculture, fisheries and food. It should be noted that the processing industry was not taken into account in the calculation of this increase.

Deputy Deasy bemoaned the fact that the region in which he resides did not do too well in the context of the creation of employment. If the Minister of State really believes the figures are correct, then surely his colleague, Deputy Deasy, should be the happiest man in the House. If the figures presented by the Government are to be believed, they indicate that the Border, midlands and western, BMW, region outperformed the south and east region including Dublin by two to one in terms of the percentage increase in employment. That is quite an extraordinary claim. As representatives from the BMW region, Deputy Martin Ferris and I would love to believe this to be true. According to the statistics, the best performing region in the country, with an increase of 8.4% increase in employment, is the south east. The next best performing region is the Border region, with an 8% increase. After that comes the midlands region, with a 5% increase. Dublin is doing worse than the national average with only a 2.8% increase in employment. Next comes the west, which includes Galway city, at 2.7%. Then we have the south west, including Cork city, with an increase of 1.2% in employment. Finally, we have the mid-west, at 0.5%, and the mid-east, at 0.07%. If the Minister of State believes these statistics and if he is of the view that they reflect how the economy is developing, he should ensure that the Government moves fast to invest more money in rural areas. According to the propaganda being put about, these are the areas in which the level of employment appears to be growing at an enormous rate.

When it published results relating to this matter, the CSO issued a warning. It pointed out that the largest rates of increase - 29.8% or 26,800 - were recorded in the agriculture, forestry and fisheries sector. The CSO also indicated that it can be noted that estimates of employment in this sector have been shown to be sensitive to sample changes over time. It stated, "Given the continued introduction of the sample based on the 2011 Census of Population as outlined in the note on the front page of this release [it was on the front page and those in government could not see it], particular caution is warranted in the interpretation of the trend in this sector at this time." In other words, what the CSO is stating is that for a number of reasons the figure for agriculture is a statistical aberration. Of course, one of the reasons the CSO provides is that the sample has changed.

The other reason is quite simple and anyone who lives in a rural area will understand it. If one considers the CSO's figures, one will detect a huge increase in the level of employment among males. What has happened is that in the past many males were employed in construction and other industries. When they were laid off, they applied for jobseeker's benefit. When they were surveyed, they were assessed as being in receipt of a jobseeker's payment, that is, unemployed. The south east, the Border region etc. show up so well in terms of the figures to which I referred earlier because in many cases the people in question live in rural areas and own small farms. We are all familiar with part-time farmers who also engage in off-farm employment. When the jobseeker's benefit of those to whom I refer ran out and they applied for jobseeker's allowance, one of two things happened: either they had working spouses and, in 90% of cases, were not entitled to payment or their farms were bringing in sufficient income to preclude them from receiving payment. When they were surveyed again and asked if they were in receipt, they replied in the negative. When they were asked if they had jobs, they replied that they are employed in agriculture. Those are the facts.

For that which I have outlined to be presented as the creation of 30,000 new jobs, for it to be continually repeated to the nation by the Minister of State as if he really believes it and for every Deputy opposite to be prepped by various backroom experts, who are supposed to be available to the Government and who analyse the figures in question, to come to the House in order to parrot this total fiction is absolutely despicable.

They come in like parrots, one after another, repeating this total fiction and it is absolutely despicable. Anyone who spent five minutes examining the figures would know that there is more truth in the Grimm fairy tales than in the fairy tale of the 61,000 jobs that the Government has created.

The problem is that the Government representatives continue to state that this day is about letting the media know the great things that are happening here but the tragedy is that no one in the media is in the House for the debate. They have long switched off from it. They will not pick up on the real debate that is taking place in the House today when people go behind the prepared scripts, which are full of propaganda, start examining the facts and then deal with the facts.

When I tweeted last Sunday that I would show this week how these figures were wrong, Councillor Lacey could not take it on the chin. Being an Oatlands boy like myself, he probably knew I had done my homework. He tweeted back that we were losing jobs when we were in power. Of course we were in the last years we were in power but there was a major increase in jobs in the early years we were in power and there are still more jobs in the economy now than there was in the 1990s. In any event, the fact is that the jobs have not been created.

It is time that we had debates in the House based on the facts seen in the cold light of day. One thing among many that disappoints me about the Government is that it seems to be all propaganda. There is no serious analysis or debate and no effort to seriously try to work together to see how we can improve the country. The Government parties would not work together on the hard decisions that had to be made and since they got into government, they continue to try to live with the myths they created about themselves. Certainly, they do not want a cold light of analysis to be shone on what is actually happening in the economy in order that we can do something about it.

At the end of the day, it is cold comfort to all those on the social welfare system for those in government to be putting out figures that they know to be false. Those affected know from personal experience that those jobs are not available and that there are no queues of employers coming out of the woodwork seeking to employ people. Therefore, I hope that later this evening some member of the Government will come into the Chamber and recognise that the 61,000 figure is totally false and has no basis in fact and that employment creation last year came to 30,000, half of what the Government has stated.

Martin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

There was a time when the so-called Celtic tiger was stalking the land and when, if we were to believe the prevailing wisdom of the Government and media at the time, the farming community thought it was the Cinderella of the Irish economy. The crash came and the tiger went away. Lo and behold, agriculture not only survived the crash, but it turned out to be the one sector which remained relatively stable and which has even shown growth and job creation potential. I emphasise the word "potential".

Jobs in agriculture are deeply embedded in the economy. Food processing operations, for example, use raw materials from the surrounding area, employ local people and contribute to the economy in a meaningful way. This, in turn, grows a local economy around them. For example, when the sugar industry was sold out by Fianna Fáil, the repercussions were felt far beyond the gates of the factories or the fields of beet that surrounded them. Hauliers, agricultural contractors, shopkeepers, garages, guesthouses and all types of businesses depending on sugar went to the wall as a result.

I grew up on a small farm that grew sugarbeet. It was a cash crop for Christmas and a crop that lasted almost 80 years. It provided a fantastic benefit to the economy in rural Ireland. Sadly, the previous Government in its stupidity gave away that industry and accused those who opposed the decision of being economically illiterate. My understanding is that other people are working at the moment to try to bring that industry back. I wish them well and I give them my full support.

The agrifood sector is badly in need of more integrated development of supply chains in the meat and dairy sectors. This can be done while maintaining the structure of the family farm and encouraging young farmers to take over from the previous generation and bring the necessary innovation, imagination, research and product development to grow the sector and increase the native consumption and export of Irish food.

The value and potential value of agricultural exports is significant not only in economic terms, but also in the manner in which the quality and standard of Irish food turns a profit and publicises the country at its best, that is, as a green clean beautiful place producing green clean food. While this is a healthy image to promote abroad, the reality for many of us living outside the big urban centres is that rural Ireland is in crisis. I remain concerned about a lobby that is trying to promote genetically modified produce in the country. This could be detrimental to the green imagery and food safety aspects of our products.

Despite the Government's declared priorities to protect vulnerable sectors of society, support disadvantaged areas and protect what we hold dear about our rural way of life, it has allowed its austerity policies to create havoc. The Minister of State knows well what I am about to say and the list I am about to recite on the record; I have done it time and again. The tragedy is that the list is growing longer. This Government and, to a far greater extent, the previous Fianna Fáil Green Party Government before it set about closing rural post offices. This is a cruel blow to any community and anyone who lives in isolated areas of rural Ireland knows what I am talking about. Anyone who knows anything about rural life in Irish towns and villages knows that the post office is a hub for the entire community. From the way the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Rabbitte, has been talking recently, it seems he believes that the Irish high street as we know it is a thing of the past. We have seen the closure of post offices, Garda stations, small schools and hundreds of small businesses and creameries, all of which were at the heart of rural Ireland. It is a sad sight to see the number of empty premises along main streets throughout the State.

The Government is altogether mistaken if it believes that the people of rural Ireland are happy to become idle custodians of wind turbines and pylons in order that private companies can export energy to Britain and France. The people who live in rural areas will not stand for it. Those in the Government might think that they can postpone plans for turbines and pylons until after the local elections but they are mistaken if they believe that people will tolerate this intolerable situation.

The Government's talk of so-called recovery does not cut it in parts of the country like the south and the west, where many areas cannot field a hurling or football team because the young lads are gone to look for work abroad. Those of us who live in the south west, the west and perhaps other parts of the country in rural isolated areas know full well what I am talking about. Some people might be benefiting from Government and EU policies but the vast majority in the south and west are not in that category.

The negotiations during the past two years on the Common Agricultural Policy from 2015 to 2020 presented an opportunity to bring more equity to the programme but the Minister failed to deliver on those expectations. In the recent past I have attended sizeable meetings along the western seaboard where people expressed growing dissatisfaction with the Government and EU policies and the direction being taken by some among the farm leadership. The anger at some of these meetings which I attended was palpable. Anything up to 600 people turned up at these meetings. Furthermore, it is not only a case of one or two meetings; they are taking place across the western seaboard.

One of the things which has angered people most is something the Government falsely claimed to prioritise. I am referring to a lack of a scheme to replace the rural environment protection scheme 4 for 2014. Are the Government and the Minister so far removed from reality that they believe it is acceptable to leave a large percentage of Irish farmers in disadvantaged areas with no payment for the entire year? The reality is that people coming out of REPS 4 in January and February this year will have no payment until the new alternative payment kicks in in January next year. I am referring to farmers in the more disadvantaged areas and the low-income farming sector, the farmers most in need.

The REPS payments were invaluable not only to the environment which they were designed to protect, but also to the more marginalised and weaker farmers in receipt of them. While the farming community awaits a final decision regarding Pillar 2, it is of huge importance to have a scheme to replace REPS 4 that will not reduce farm incomes of that sector.

Another source of great anger in rural communities are the issues surrounding land eligibility. I am calling for an amnesty for those in the lower bracket of farming affected by the Minister’s demand for a clawback of payments since 2009. Most people, including the Department, believed they were compliant. A change in the methodology regarding a satellite caused the clawback demand. The Minister should re-examine what are being called overclaims. Manual inspections often reverse them and such inspections should be facilitated for those seeking them. Those still outstanding after manual inspection, which we believe to be a small number, should be given an amnesty so that weaker sections of the farming community will not be penalised. It is a way out of this situation which does not involve big money and will not penalise people who believed they were compliant, as did the Department.

Then we have the issue of retired farmers and the new CAP. The retired farmers scheme was outstanding which, along with installation aid, allowed young farmers to start up while older farmers handed over to a new generation. Both schemes encouraged young people into the sector but there are severe difficulties now for some people who leased their land entitlements and did not farm in 2013.

In common with many Deputies, I have received representations from some older farmers and some younger ones who, due to ill health, leased their land in 2013 - which is now the reference year - and now find themselves without a pension. They will be forced to sell their entitlements and pay capital gains tax in some cases. This was visited upon them without warning. The Minister should re-examine this situation and come to the aid of those who unwittingly leased their lands in 2013 and find themselves in the current situation. He has an opportunity to make things more equitable and fair, and in doing so will maintain a strong and vibrant rural economy. I call on him to prioritise rural Ireland. It is not just part of what we are, it is also what we are. Rural Deputies, some of whom are present in the Chamber, will know full well what I am talking about. Rural Ireland has taken a huge hit.

I have not yet touched on the fishing sector, some 85% of which has been decimated. Boats have been tied up since the second week of December and have not gone to sea. They may have been able to undertake fishing this week but they are self-employed and have no income. They cannot get jobseeker's benefit or jobseeker's allowance. They must go cap-in-hand to the community welfare officer if they can find him. However, community welfare officers are being withdrawn from certain areas which makes it harder for people to obtain the necessary entitlements.

The system needs to be examined. Much of what Deputy Ó Cuív said about manufacturing or sexing up unemployment figures to look good is correct. People coming off jobseeker's benefit are unable to get the jobseeker's allowance because they may have a capital investment, such as a small farm. These people are supposed to be returning to work. They have been working all along, while their income was substituted by jobseeker's benefit and the farm job before that. That is 30,000 of the so-called 61,000 who are back to work this year. If the Minister of State believes the figures, he is fooling himself.

Tom Fleming (Kerry South, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Disability Federation of Ireland has major concerns about the urgency of prioritising and addressing the overarching disability goals at this mid-point in the Government's term. These goals represent indicators of the commitments made by the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste to people with disabilities in their pre-election debates where disability was named as one of the key social justice issues to be pursued.

The most important matter is the need to appoint a senior Minister with a dedicated responsibility for disability inclusion. Disability should be afforded the same understanding, respect and urgency that has been accorded to children and young people who now have a specific Minister and Department. The reform of public services is a prerequisite for delivering the national disability strategy. However, there has been little evidence so far of public services working as an entity to support the inclusion of people with disabilities.

Disability is a societal issue that stretches across the life-cycle affecting people of all ages, and their families, both directly and indirectly. The disabled are not a category that anyone else ever joins. There have been huge challenges for the Government at this time in the context of five years of recession with funding being severely reduced, particularly for health services. Increased demand and demographic pressures have had to be accommodated even with reduced funding.

Voluntary disability organisations have come under huge pressure since the recession began, with ever increasing demands on their services. Services that are so badly needed by people with disabilities should not be subject to further onslaught. The balance of funding should be moved to health care services and preventive care services, as well as community-based services and supports provided by voluntary disability organisations.

Limits should be placed on tendering and outsourcing services. It is essential that any cost-cutting measures are disability proofed to ensure that they account for the extra cost of the disability concerned. People with disabilities endure a double hit when cuts are made to specific disabilities as well as mainstream services. It is vital for the Government to pursue the implementation of agreed measures, targets and timelines for disability.

The UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities must be ratified urgently so that people with disabilities can fully enjoy their rights on an equal basis with all other citizens. It is essential that the monitoring mechanism for the national disability strategy implementation plan operates effectively, given the short timeframe remaining for its implementation.

Key pieces of legislation that have been deferred should be prioritised for implementation, including the Disability Act 2005, the Education for Persons with Special Needs Act 2004, and the Comhairle (Amendment) Bill 2004. Irrespective of budgetary constraints, health service funding should be organised on a multi-annual basis to improve and facilitate proper planning. Due respect and recognition for the community and voluntary sector is required from the Government, both for the disability-specific and generic community organisations engaged in the provision of public services.

The disability community has a vital role in terms of its contribution to partnership, working across statutory, non-statutory and private sectors, as well as facilitating cross-departmental working. The Government should address the impact of the reduction in staff numbers in public social services that are supporting people with disabilities to get access to basic mainstream services. A consequence of this depletion in human resources is that the capacity does not exist to implement Government policy as outlined in policy documents such asFuture Health, and will therefore result in a severely damaged social and health infrastructure when austerity finally ends.

The HSE disability consultative forum should be strengthened to become a forum for dialogue and partnership working between the statutory and non-statutory sectors. A systematic approach to collecting data on service use and demand should be prioritised in the statutory and non-statutory health and social care sectors in support of service planning. Improved data are also needed in related areas, including housing and transport. Data need to be gathered on the current labour market position of people with disabilities and their needs in order to assess their distance from the labour market and what supports might be needed to address this.

The quality of life for many people with disabilities has not been enhanced since the Government took office. Their quality of life has been affected by the reduction of HSE funding which impacts on the income of, and services for, people with disabilities. We have seen continuous cuts in HSE funding for disability services in the order of 1.8% in 2011, 3.7% in 2012 and 1.2% in 2013. On an individual basis, organisations have sustained cuts in excess of these amounts from the health services.

Key supports that enable people to live in their communities have been targeted, curtailing people's options to live an ordinary life with independent choice and control. Examples of these include cuts to the housing adaption grant of almost €60 million between 2010 and 2013. The respite care grant was cut by 19% in 2013, the fuel allowance scheme was cut by six weeks in 2012 and there were reductions to the household benefit package in 2013. These cuts have come at a time of rising costs.

There is a considerable level of unmet need for services with 1,670 people in need of a personal assistant service in 2011 while 3,938 households with a person with a disability had unmet housing needs. In addition, mainstream health-related cutbacks are damaging people's ability to achieve good health and well-being. These include increased prescription charges which are five times greater than in 2012, the increase in the threshold of the drugs payment scheme and the rolling back of free GP care for people with certain illnesses who comprise a cohort with a heavy reliance on health services. Other cutbacks are affecting people's ability to progress in the labour market, such as the reduction in funding for educational supports, including the 20% cut in funding in 2012 for access programmes for students with disabilities.

In summary, the cumulative effects of the rising cost of living, the reduced supports for community living, the reduced social welfare benefits and the new taxes and changes to the existing taxes have seen the erosion of the incomes of people with disabilities. In such a scenario the Government cannot claim that the quality of life for people with disabilities has been enhanced during its term.

People with disabilities continue to be at risk of consistent poverty. A recent survey on income and living conditions demonstrated that in 2011, people not at work due to illness or disability had a rate of consistent poverty of more than 11%, an increase of 2.3% since 2009. Meanwhile, their average annual household disposable income was reduced from €31,731 in 2009 to €22,089 in 2011. A recent ESRI study found that almost one in five people living in jobless households were adults with a disability. The report also found that welfare payments were crucial in lifting jobless households above the poverty threshold but there has been no improvement in their living standards or level of financial stress over the period.

The cost of living for people with disabilities is not similar to those of people without disabilities. It has been long recognised that people with disabilities and their families incur extra costs for food, heating, clothing and transport. They also incur extra costs for health care, assistance, aids and devices. It has been estimated that the long-term costs of disability can be approximately one third of an average weekly income. For this reason their income is considerably reduced compared to non-disabled persons in receipt of jobseeker's payment. Disability allowance remains a contingency payment on a par with jobseeker's allowance and paid at the same rate of €188 a week. If those on jobseeker's payments are expected to move back into the labour force, various activation programmes exist for that purpose. Meanwhile, many people with disabilities are likely to continue to live on the lowest of income protection supports, often for their entire adult life. In addition, people with disabilities are subject to the same mainstream cuts as others, for example, the targeting of the household benefits package in the 2013 and 2014 budgets.

The extra demands made on their income is a double hit, one for which they are not adequately compensated. It is arguably the case that the secondary benefits on income disregards associated with disability payments, such as disability allowance, go some way towards offsetting the extra costs of disabilities but they do not form the kind of package needed to adequately ensure against the risk of poverty and social exclusion. People with disabilities are one of those groups most likely to be living in a jobless household and to be at risk of consistent poverty. They have extra costs related to their disability and for this reason their income is comparatively less compared to other groups in receipt of income supports. They also experience the double hit when cuts are implemented in mainstream services as well as specific services. I hope these matters will be addressed before the end of the term of office of this Government.

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to make a contribution as it is important to have an opportunity to air our opinions on the priorities for the year ahead and for the Government. We need to be positive because there is a lot that is right with this country. We need to build on what we have. The Government came to power three years ago with a mandate to fix the country and its finances. Fine Gael and the Labour Party have stuck to their promise and we are on the road to recovery. Many might disagree that this is the case but I do not think there is anyone in this House or in the country who has not been affected by the events of recent years. Tough decisions have been made so that we never have to go through a similar crisis again. I am proud to make that statement. I acknowledge that more needs to be achieved. Unfortunately, not everyone is feeling the change. Unemployment is still too high, and youth unemployment in particular. I refer to the changes in the social welfare system which will change young people's attitude to work. In the previous system young people were handed money but they were not helped to find suitable work. We need to move away from that mentality. The introduction of the youth guarantee scheme will place an emphasis on those who have been caught in that cycle. I am delighted that the issue of youth unemployment is a priority for the Government because it is also my priority.

I was canvassing last night and I spoke to a woman on her doorstep. She has worked all her life, as has her husband. They have put both their children through college. Her husband has cancer and one of her daughters cannot find work. The woman feels she is caught in the middle. She said that she is too rich to be poor and too poor to be rich. We need to look at middle-income families because they are still feeling the burden more than others. I welcome the comments of the Minister of State, Deputy Brian Hayes, the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, and the Taoiseach that if our finances continue to improve, it may be possible to reduce the tax burden on middle-income earners. The self-employed have kept this country going and if things fall apart for them there should be a rainy-day pot available for them. The Taoiseach referred to the issue of mortgage arrears which is being addressed.

I have a strong interest in the proposed North-South interconnector and the proposed wind export project in north Meath. I welcome the fact that the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Rabbitte, announced a review of the policy. Many issues must be considered and we need a clear picture of future energy needs, such as competitiveness, security of supply, sustainability and the potential to support economic growth and job creation. As a rural Deputy, I welcome the work of the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Coveney, the Minister of State, Deputy Tom Hayes, and our MEP, Mairead McGuinness, in the agricultural sector. We do not have enough young farmers and we may be a dying breed. I discussed this issue at the Ard-Fheis.

It is important to get rid of the two-tier health system so that everyone can benefit from a universal health care system. We must ensure that the costs are kept to a minimum and that the system will cater for every man, woman and child. My focus is on young people and I know that education has always been a priority for the Government, regardless of the state of the finances. Issues affecting young people include the abuse of alcohol and drugs and issues of sexuality and mental health. The Government needs to have a joined-up policy for dealing with these issues for the sake of young people.

Peter Fitzpatrick (Louth, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

While recent signs of economic recovery are positive and welcome, they are not being felt in every home across the country. Indeed, the impact of unemployment and debt means many families are still struggling. In 2014, the Government will focus on growing the economy and creating jobs, with specific targets set out in the recent strategy for growth. There are three high-level priorities for this year, namely, increasing support for the domestic economy, ensuring those most affected by the crisis are not left behind, and continuing political and public sector reforms to ensure the recovery is fair, inclusive and sustainable.

The Government has set out specific measures to be progressed in 2014. A new construction strategy will be launched to support jobs in that sector and plan effectively for our growing population. The Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Ruairí Quinn, is progressing 70 major school projects in 2014. The Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Phil Hogan, and the Minister of State, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, are expanding the energy efficiency retrofit programme for social housing, which will involve 12,500 homes and some 1,000 constructions workers. The Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Leo Varakar, will publish a new tourism strategy shortly. That strategy will build on the success of The Gathering and the measures already taken, such as the reduction in VAT on tourism services, which have helped to create more than 22,000 new jobs.

We will get more people back to work in 2014 through effective training and supports and targeting disincentives to work. We must ensure that those who lost their jobs and suffered most are not left behind in the recovery. We have already succeeded in reducing unemployment below the European Union average of 12%, with the target being to get below 10% by 2016 and a return to full employment by 2020. We must continue to grow the economy if it is to support new jobs. We are targeting growth of at least 2% in 2014, 2.5% in 2015 and 3% in 2015.

We will offer enhanced support and lending to small businesses and progress openness by enacting whistleblower and freedom of information legislation. We are also engaged in a restructuring of local government services. Whomever the people elect to local authorities in the forthcoming elections will have new powers to determine local charges. We are also improving water infrastructure. The provision of free GP care for children aged five and under is one of a range of health reforms under way. In education, we are introducing a self-assessment system for schools and taking steps to make school admissions more transparent.

While there is much remaining to be done, the Government has already made real progress. We kept our promise not to increase income tax or cut basic social welfare rates. Unemployment has fallen for 20 months in succession, to 12%, and 61,000 new jobs were created last year. We successfully re-entered the bond markets last year, at historically low levels. We have a new economic strategy to manage Ireland's economy to 2020. The liquidation of the former Anglo Irish Bank has been successfully implemented. The deal on the promissory notes will reduce Government borrowing by €20 billion by 2020. Of the 333 actions in the Action Plan for Jobs 2013, 90% were delivered in full. The revised plan for 2014 contains 285 actions to grow SMEs and start-ups. Pathways to Work has helped to move 27,000 long-term unemployed people into work.

The Haddington Road agreement will reduce the cost of the public service by a further €1 billion and provide for an additional 15 million work hours across all sectors. The new money-follows-the-patient system of funding in the health service is being implemented across 38 public hospitals, with payments made on the basis of the level of inpatient and day care activity. New legislation commenced in June requires pharmacists to offer cheaper generic alternatives to branded drugs.

Constitutional reform continued last year with two referenda and a body of work completed by the Constitutional Convention, which considered all eight issues presented to it, along with an additional two. The latest Dáil reforms mean we begin business in this House earlier each day and work longer to provide more time for legislative debate. The Government will continue to drive forward policy reforms across all sectors to ensure better services in the future in areas such as local government, schools and health.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate on the Government's priorities for the years ahead. While all of us in this House deal with daily representations of a diverse and varied nature, I have no doubt that the one overriding priority for everybody is the creation of jobs. Recent figure from the Central Statistics Office showing that 61,000 jobs were created in the past year are hugely encouraging. We have moved from a situation three years ago where jobs were being lost at a rate of 1,600 per week to a position today where 1,200 jobs are being created every week. This is significant and positive progress, and great credit is due to the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Richard Bruton, for his tremendous work on the Action Plan for Jobs, which is clearly bearing fruit.

The objective now must be to build on this progress and reach the ambitious target the Taoiseach has set of reducing unemployment to below 10% by 2016. To this end, there must be a particular focus on youth unemployment, which remains stubbornly high at 25%, albeit reduced from a peak of 33%. In this regard, I welcome the youth guarantee initiative. The danger, however, is that young people may fall into the trap of long-term unemployment. If a person leaves school and goes straight into claiming jobseeker's payment, having never entered the workforce, there is a danger that it becomes a normal way of life. It is worrying to note that according to an OECD report last year, Ireland had the third highest share of 15 to 19 year olds who are neither in work nor in education or training, the so-called NEET cohort.

We must bridge the gap from when young people leave education until they find a job. This requires the introduction of a greatly enhanced apprenticeship scheme. Looking to the German model, there are more than 340 recognised occupations for apprenticeship purposes across a broad range of areas, from accounting to plumbing. In Ireland, by contrast, we have only a tiny fraction of that number of apprenticeship places available, the majority of them based solely in the area of construction. I met recently with representatives of a graphic design company which is on the cusp of a major expansion. However, management simply cannot find employees with the necessary skills set. While there are plenty of college graduates available for work, they do not have the on-the-job experience that is required. There is a gap between the university degree and the world of work. As the company representatives I spoke to explained, if they were to take on a graduate, they are required to pay full wages even though that person, through no fault of his or her own, will not have the full set of skills to do the job. He or she could, as a result, make mistakes that would cost the company money.

This situation is not the fault of graduates. The problem is that they lack hands-on experience and there is no system in place to ensure they get it. In Germany, on the other hand, it is usually not possible to secure a job unless one has served an apprenticeship with an employer. Apprentices receive a training allowance from their employer of approximately €650 per month and once they successfully complete their apprenticeship, they are often taken on permanently. From the employer's perspective, this makes it much easier to take a person on to gain that invaluable hands-on experience. In addition, it fosters a strong work ethic from an early age. By going to work, the trainees feel valued and know they are making a contribution to society. It is important to bear in mind that there are young people who do not want to or are unable to go on to further education. When they leave school, there is a danger they will enter a cycle of claiming social welfare which can be difficult to escape. Under a strong apprenticeship system, local employers would liaise with schools to identify early school leavers and those who will not progress to third level, and provide them with opportunities, through an apprenticeship programme, that will help to prevent their becoming unemployed.

I commend the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Joan Burton, on her efforts under the Pathways to Work strategy. The introduction of schemes such as JobBridge, JobsPlus and the Momentum programme are having an impact. I recall the serious demand for the WebActivate programme that was launched in Monaghan last year. I have had feedback from several young people regarding the excellence of that particular scheme. Nevertheless, we must give serious consideration to the issue of apprenticeships. It is an issue I would like to see progressed in the year ahead as part of the youth guarantee scheme.

Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Three years ago last Sunday, I entered this House for the first time as a newly elected Deputy and part of a new Government. We had a huge job of work in front of us, with the country in economic ruin. Three years on, we have made progress on many of the key areas we targeted. Last year, 61,000 new jobs were created.

The unemployment rate has fallen from a high of 15.1% and is now under the EU average of 12%. We have made a clean exit from the bailout. Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide have been formally closed. The promissory note deal has been restructured. The budget deficit is continuing to fall. We have a leaner banking system as a result of the establishment of the pillar banks. The Haddington Road agreement was developed as a follow-up to the Croke Park agreement. The biggest difficulty with the Croke Park agreement was that it took a one-size-fits-all approach. Everyone from the highest-paid civil servant to the lowest-paid civil servant was treated the same. The Haddington Road agreement broke that inequity. We now have a fairer system in which those who have more contribute more.

We stuck to our commitment not to increase income tax or cut basic social welfare rates. This was easier said than done, but it has been of great importance for our overall recovery. While the economy dominated the agenda and the public consciousness, we made huge strides socially by addressing issues that had been swept under the carpet for too long. I refer to the Magdalen laundries issue, for example. We established the first ever Government Ministry for children and brought forward the children's rights referendum. We passed the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013, thereby meeting head-on an important and sensitive social issue that previous Governments had ignored for too long

Fine Gael had a five-point plan at the last general election. That plan is working. The medium-term economic strategy that was published recently continues the Government's plan, as set out in the programme for Government. The essence of this plan involves creating more jobs and ensuring the economy grows in support of employment. An economy is driven by those who work and pay taxes. That burden has fallen on too few shoulders because unemployment levels have been so high. Getting more people back to work allows us to reduce the burden on those who contribute. Two Government strategies - the Action Plan for Jobs, which was introduced by the Minister, Deputy Bruton, and the Pathways to Work scheme, which was introduced by the Minister, Deputy Burton - are working in tandem to address the need for State services to better adapt to a changing jobs environment and focus on where opportunities will be found in the future.

There are massive opportunities for continued growth in the home-grown agrifood and tourism sectors, which will thrive and create jobs if the Government continues to support and develop them. There has been really positive growth in the tourism sector since we took office three years ago. Initiatives like the reduced VAT rate for the hospitality sector and The Gathering have given it some momentum. I do not doubt that many jobs have been created and - just as important - saved as a result. The available numbers for 2013 indicate that international visits have increased by 7%, with domestic holiday trips also on the increase. This is having a direct impact on job creation. The number of people employed in the tourism sector has increased by 12% in the last year. Fáilte Ireland estimates that an additional 8,000 jobs could be created in the tourism sector in the year ahead. It is important to note that many of these jobs will be located in areas where there is very little other economic activity. The Government's decision to prioritise tourism is paying dividends. I am happy that supporting tourism will continue to be one of our priorities in 2014.

The agrifood sector is another domestic industry that has huge potential for growth. According to the findings of a Bord Bia food industry survey from December 2013, small Irish food businesses are optimistic about their growth prospects. Some 67% of those surveyed said they expect their businesses to grow in 2014. Almost half of them claimed to have increased their turnover in 2013. The value of Irish food and drink exports approached €10 billion for the first time in 2013. This represents an increase of 9% on the previous year and 40% in the last four years. Revenues in this area are almost €3 billion higher than they were in the past.

In the area of energy, there has been a significant focus on electricity pylons and proposed wind farms for the domestic and export markets. I welcome the recent announcement by the Minister, Deputy Rabbitte, that an expert group will be established to examine undergrounding options as part of the Grid Link and Grid25 projects. There is a need for a full review of our overall energy policy, as outlined in a Government White Paper, Delivering a Sustainable Energy Future for Ireland, in 2007. A great deal has changed in this country since 2007. Following the recent publication of the European Commission's targets for 2030, this is an opportune time for us to undertake a complete review of our overall energy policy. Given that the newly formed expert group is to examine the potential for undergrounding 400 kV lines like Grid Link, a wider national debate on the forms of renewables we should be pursuing is needed. We should consider whether we are too focussed on wind energy. Perhaps we should place a greater emphasis on wave or solar energy. A debate on these matters is needed in this country. I look forward to the Government leading such a debate in the not too distant future.

I will conclude by referring to my local priorities in south Kildare for the year ahead. I am fighting for the construction of the southern distributor ring road that the people of Athy have been seeking for 40 years. This route is long overdue and badly needed in the interests of the economic development of the town. Business supports are needed in areas like Newbridge where unemployment remains stubbornly high. While progress has been made there, more needs to be done. I will continue to fight for the re-establishment of the sugar industry, which we should never have lost. I welcome the new recruitment drive for the Defence Forces. This is obviously of great importance for my constituency, given that the Defence Forces are based in the Curragh. The Government is keeping to its important commitment to retain a minimum personnel figure of 9,500. I welcome the progress that has been made to date. I accept that this is just a starting point. I am optimistic about the future. I look forward to seeing our economy grow. The problems faced by this nation are being met head-on by this reforming Government.

Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

It has been said that one cannot please all of the people all of the time. That certainly applies to the programme for Government. The creation of a programme for Government is a complex task. If a Government includes a substantial number of commitments and objectives in its plans, it will be accused of being too ambitious, overly confident and unrealistic. If a Government does not include a substantial number of commitments and objectives in its plans, it will be accused of lacking imagination and creativity.

It is important to record how desperate this country's circumstances were when we came into office. As a result of the lethal combination of economic mismanagement and a dire external climate, Ireland had relinquished its economic sovereignty and accepted a financial bailout. The economy collapsed quickly, resulting in soaring unemployment, failing businesses, dwindling financial resources and an increasing gap between income and expenditure. Not surprisingly, there was a feeling of hopelessness and fear. Negativity was all too pervasive. Three years later, there is a new sense of hope and optimism in this country on foot of the positive results we are seeing in areas like employment and economic growth. It should never be forgotten that our economic recovery has resulted from the hard work, determination and perseverance of the Irish people.

Is ceart ó am go ham go bhfuil seans againn sa Dáil breathnú siar ar scéal an Rialtais. Is taifead maith é. Nuair a tháinig an Rialtas isteach trí bliana ó shin, bhí an troika inár measc. Anois, tar éis obair an Rialtais agus iarrachtaí mhuintir na hÉireann, tá siad imithe. Is scéal maith é sin. Tá sé soiléir go bhfuilimid ar an mbóthar ceart ó thaobh eacnamaíocht na tíre.

A great deal of progress has been made across a significant number of areas covered in the programme for Government, the full title of which refers to national recovery. On the economic front, a policy of careful and sustainable building and recasting of the economy has yielded many results. We have regained our economic sovereignty. Ireland is the first country to have successfully exited an economic assistance programme, following the worst recession for 80 years. We have re-entered the bond markets at historically low levels. We have liquidated the former Anglo Irish Bank. Following the renegotiation of the promissory notes, the amount to be repaid has been halved, in effect.

The unemployment rate in the west was a staggering 17% three years ago, but it has fallen to 11.9% today. This huge improvement is verified by the increased participation rate in the labour market. This shows that the improvement cannot simply be attributed to emigration. Having said that, there is much more to be done. We cannot be complacent. We certainly need to ensure this growth continues. Some 61,000 new jobs have been created in the past 12 months. Ireland now has the fastest growing employment rate in the EU and the OECD. The number of people on the live register has fallen for the last 20 consecutive months. These undeniable facts irritate those who were hoping against hope that our country would fail.

Tá scéal maith ann freisin ó thaobh poist agus dífhostaíocht. Tá an ráta dífhostaíochta tite ó 15.2% go dtí 11.9%. Cé go bhfuil an ráta nua fós ró-ard, tá feabhas mór tagtha sa tír seo i dtaobh na dífhostaíochta. Tá sé ráite go bhfuil an ráta dífhostaíochta tite mar gheall ar imirce. Tá daoine óga ag imeacht thar lear, ach tá cuid acu ag teacht ar ais freisin. Tá na figiúirí a bhaineann le líon na ndaoine sa tír seo atá ag obair níos fearr ós rud é go bhfuil siad ag ardú.

This welcome growth in employment can be attributed to a number of factors, not least the relentless focus by all areas of Government and the State on job creation. I consider the Action Plan for Jobs to have been revolutionary in its ethos. By bringing together all the stakeholders in a process characterised by comprehensive consultation, the Action Plan for Jobs has succinctly set out the measures and acts that are needed to foster the best possible environment for job creation. The most important aspect of the plan is its clear identification of the Department, agency or organisation that is responsible for achieving each stated objective. All stakeholders are clear on the aims and objectives for which they are responsible. Everyone is focused on the overarching aim of creating jobs. The results of this can only be positive. The undeniable truth is that the Action Plan for Jobs is working. The figures and statistics demonstrate this. We need to continue that focus and intensify our efforts.

While there have been positives in many areas, there have also been frustrating delays. The introduction of free primary health care for all citizens is an honourable objective which would be of great benefit. While I welcome the introduction of free GP care for all children under the age of five, I am disappointed that the objective of introducing free GP care for citizens on the long-term illness scheme has been delayed. I think those with existing health conditions and chronic illnesses would benefit more from being able to access primary care free of charge. I am also concerned about the apparent impasse between the Irish Medical Organisation, which represents general practitioners, and the HSE.

It is vital to negotiate a new agreement that is reasonable and is done in a respectful manner. We must never lose sight of the fact that all sides have the same objective, which is to meet the people's health care needs.

The introduction of high-speed broadband outside our cities and large towns has also been frustratingly slow. High-speed broadband has made geographic location less relevant for many businesses and enables businesses in places such as Connemara to compete on a level playing field with those in central Dublin. Some 15 years after the shambles that was the privatisation of Eircom we are still experiencing the effects of selling off the entire network as well as the commercial entity. Due to this shortsighted and misguided step, the country is still playing catch-up in broadband provision.

The national broadband scheme in the middle of the last decade, while welcome, proved to be inadequate in many areas by inexplicably omitting areas that should have been included. We now have the national broadband plan which should bring speeds of at least 30 Mbps to all areas by 2016. The mapping project to identify the areas most in need is nearing completion and the negotiations within the European Commission on the state aid that will be required have commenced. However, the progress is frustratingly slow and it is all the more worrying given its importance for business. Broadband is as vital as electricity and water can be in that context.

However, I welcome the recent ESB (Electronic Communications Networks) Bill, which takes an innovative approach in changing ESB's remit to allow it to be engaged in broadband provision and to allow a suitable partner company to piggyback on the ESB infrastructure in order to provide high-speed broadband directly into people's homes. I hope that can be progressed by the ESB as soon as practicable. I look forward to the renewed emphasis on this area in the jobs action plan.

There has been scant progress on the micro-generation of electricity by homes, farms, schools and small local businesses. Outside urban settings it is possible for homes, schools and businesses to reduce their energy bills and to play their part in reducing the effects of climate change by installing domestic-sized wind turbines. However, apart from one electricity provider, providing a single scheme for householders only, there is no mechanism to reduce energy bills in a way that reflects the unused electricity generated by the turbines being fed back into the national grid. I have raised this with the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, and with representatives of the electricity network, the energy regulator and energy companies, but nobody seems interested in tackling the issue.

Almost all can appreciate the precariousness of energy supply, feel the effects of energy costs and see the need to adopt more renewable sources of energy. Our legislation and our regulatory framework must keep pace and I urge the Minister, the Department and the relevant organisations and agencies to work together in a practical way to reward those who take initiatives and switch to renewable energy sources.

I acknowledge that the agriculture sector has experienced very positive growth in recent years. We have seen sustainable jobs created in companies such as Glanbia and Kerry Group, where 900 jobs have been created. Work on the provision of facilities for such companies is very welcome. I commend the Minister on his negotiations on the CAP, resulting in a strong Pillar 1 to ensure we maintain farmers who are producing food to benefit the food-processing factories, providing real jobs and boosting exports, and a strong Pillar 2, providing for the disadvantaged area scheme, the new GLAS, and the suckler cow scheme. They benefit all areas and predominantly the most marginal land in the west. There are challenges, including the collapse of beef prices this year and the near monopoly in the factory-processing sector. There are also challenges regarding ongoing penalties for land declaration, which is causing considerable concern in the west.

In the area of transport and tourism, I commend the signing this year of the first public-private partnership for a new road project at Newlands Cross. This is a further sign of the economic advancement of the country and shows that external investors are willing to invest in this country and no longer regard it as the risky investment it once was. Progress can now be made on the Gort to Tuam road in my county where land has been purchased over a number of years.

I would also like to see continued progress on the Galway city outer bypass, which I have raised here on numerous occasions. It has now gone back to the initial planning stages. It has been long delayed because of appeals by certain organisations locally. Local people have the right to object, but there have been many objections from others. I acknowledge the firm support of the Government and of the Minister, Deputy Varadkar, in particular for this vital project, which has been deemed number one in the country on the basis of a cost-benefit analysis.

Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I call Deputy Smith, who is sharing time with Deputy Pearse Doherty.

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I will deal with Government priorities as they should relate to Northern Ireland. While I believe the Government has wrongly allowed itself to increasingly be seen as more of a bystander than an active participant on issues concerning Northern Ireland, the Government is not to blame for the recent problems. Leaving the peace process in the hands of two parties focused on partisan interests is not a policy to bring much needed benefits to the people of the entire island. Levels of trust are falling and, worst of all, opportunities for growth and reconciliation are being missed. It is these opportunities I wish to focus on in my contribution today.

The Government needs to seriously refocus its priorities now and make it a priority to re-engage on all issues relating Northern Ireland, the North-South bodies and the all-island dimension. Last December, we had the opportunity to hear the former British Prime Minister, Mr. John Major, outline how he and Mr. Albert Reynolds worked closely in partnership to achieve the Downing Street Declaration. That work was carried out during a very difficult period in the history of both islands and it was the tenacity, commitment, leadership and courage of both political leaders that achieved that very important declaration.

Similarly, the Good Friday Agreement and the St. Andrews Agreement were victories for constitutional republicanism. That commitment and that leadership were shown, and this is what is needed at present to deal with the important issues confronting the people in the Six Counties, which are of critical importance to the entire island.

The Government, and the Tánaiste in particular, needs to abandon the box-ticking exercise it is currently engaged in, namely, focusing on holding formal meetings, and it needs to start to develop concrete proposals for new North-South activity. The development of all-Ireland frameworks should be a core priority not just for the Taoiseach, Tánaiste and their Departments, but for all Departments and all State and statutory agencies. The cross-Border bodies that were established following the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 have been successful. I believe their potential has not yet been maximised.

Of course there are other areas where we should be developing a framework for new all-Ireland bodies. We need to be fairly vigorous in that respect. In developing an all-Ireland framework, we need to be very conscious of the importance of the message sent out to communities, North and South, where there are major infrastructural projects.

In the area of all-Ireland bodies, it is surely time for us to develop the further and higher education sectors on an all-Ireland basis. I am glad the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, is with us this evening. In the area of health, there is potential to maximise opportunities and deal with issues right across the board in an all-Ireland context. That area needs to be given momentum and priority. I represent two of the Ulster counties and we need cross-Border development to maximise the facilities and services north of the Border and also to provide services south of the Border, where applicable, to people from the Six Counties.

There is potential to work together and develop centres of excellence in whichever jurisdiction once all the people have access should the need arise.

With regard to infrastructure projects, it is very regrettable that the Narrow Water Bridge project has not progressed. Substantial funding was committed by the European Union but there was a shortfall of a few million euro, which should have been made up by the Northern Ireland Executive and by our Government because it is a project that would be very beneficial for the east coast counties of Louth and Down and stretching to the broader region, where more visitors are needed. In the overall context of public funding, it is a relatively small amount, and it would be a shame if that project were lost. A substantial part of the funding was provided by the European Union. Some funding had to be made up by both the Northern Ireland Executive and the Government here but a relatively small amount of funding could have got that project to construction stage.

In 1989, in much more difficult economic and political circumstances, the Government was able to progress the restoration of the Ballyconnell-Ballinamore canal, which is now the Shannon-Erne Waterway. It involved an investment of £30 million. In 1989 and 1990, the relationships between North and South and between east and west were far removed from what they are today. The Government at the time was determined to bring that project to fruition, and it succeeded. It has been a major catalyst for tourism development in Fermanagh, Cavan and Leitrim, and further afield in the South.

It would send out a strong message to communities on both sides of the Border if the Narrow Water Bridge project was to be advanced, and it would cost a relatively small amount of money. My colleague, Deputy Seamus Kirk, has continually highlighted the potential of this project and the need to advance it when we have favourable political circumstances, despite the economic challenges. I know there are competing demands for public expenditure. However, it is a project where the European funding is substantial and should not be lost. Likewise, we need to progress the proposal to restore the Ulster Canal, which runs through my constituency and a number of counties north of the Border.

The same is true of the A5 road. Representatives from the northern side of the Border and County Donegal are as anxious as my colleagues here that the project is advanced. On a recent visit by the Good Friday committee of the Oireachtas to County Derry and Letterkenny, County Donegal, numerous public representatives and interest groups highlighted to us the need to ensure that the necessary investment goes into the A5 and that there is an adequate road network between County Donegal and the capital of this country, which does not exist currently.

There are a number of outstanding commitments under the Good Friday Agreement. We have mentioned these in the House on many occasions but I refer again to the need to re-establishment the civic forum, which is provided for under the Good Friday Agreement. We need Acht na Gaeilge to be introduced without further undue delay. A bill of rights needs to be established for the North of Ireland and an all-island charter of rights needs to be developed as well. There is a need to establish the North-South consultative forum. When one considers that well in excess of 300 submissions were made to the Hass talks by civil society, it shows that civic society wants to buy into the political process and have the relevant fora in which to make their contribution.

Both Governments have also failed to address the need for a victim-centred truth and reconciliation process. The British Government has also failed to act on its Weston Park commitment to hold an independent inquiry into the killing of the human rights lawyer, Pat Finucane. That was an international agreement, and the British are not honouring their side of that agreement. Mr. Finucane's sons have continued his work in his name and the memory of all those who were brutally murdered. They make the simple point: how can we deal with the past if there is no process of examining it?

In her excellent book, Lethal Allies: British Collusion in Ireland, Anne Cadwallader of the Pat Finucane Centre has catalogued some of the tragic and distressing stories of the victims of collusion by state forces. While reading about their stories is difficult enough, hearing them told to one in person brings home the deep pain and hurt felt by the surviving families. It is very clear to all of us that those issues need to be addressed.

Late last year, I was in Armagh and heard the story of the killing of Dinny Mullen from his daughter Denise. I listened to Seamus Mallon outline the terror inflicted on so many people in counties Armagh and Tyrone due to collusion from so-called state forces including the British Army, the UDR and the police in the North, which resulted in very many innocent deaths. The people who suffered so much must have justice. I am realistic enough to know that in many instances it will be very difficult to bring some of the inquiries to a conclusion. The past on this island is touched with sadness and tragedy. It represents a grave challenge to all of us who are working towards building a future free from the sectarian passions and violence that tainted the lives of previous generations. However, that does not mean we should run away from difficult questions. It does not mean that all victims were the same and that all who lived through those decades share the blame. In reality there were those who took up the gun and resorted to ruthless violence for their own ends, while the vast majority sought peaceful means to achieve legitimate aims.

It is very clear to all of us that dealing with the past must be victim-centred. Abandoning justice for victims would be an abdication of our moral and civic responsibility to those who endured during those grim days. That would be a betrayal of our duty to the men and women who were always committed to peaceful means. The history of the Troubles cannot be left to those who bloodied their hands on either side of the conflict, be they perpetrators of state violence or paramilitaries on either side.

We are approaching the 40th anniversary of the Dublin-Monaghan bombings of 1974, which resulted in the deaths of 33 civilians and the wounding of almost 300 people, the highest number of casualties in any one day during the conflict we refer to as the Troubles. The loyalist paramilitary group, the UVF, claimed responsibility for the bombings. There are various credible allegations that elements of British security forces colluded with the UVF in those bombings. The Joint Committee on Justice called the attacks an act of international terrorism. In July 2008, the then Government Chief Whip, Pat Carey, moved a motion on this matter that had the unanimous support of all parties and Members of this House, and a similar motion was also passed in 2011. We are still awaiting a British response to those motions.

As we are approaching the 40th anniversary I had the opportunity recently to meet with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and with the British Labour Party spokesperson on Northern Ireland, Ivan Lewis. I impressed on both men as strongly as I could that the British Government must be forthcoming and respond to the request of a sovereign Parliament which has asked that the necessary inquiries be progressed, and that access by an independent international judicial figure be allowed to all original documentation held by the British Government relating to the atrocities that occurred in this jurisdiction. That was the recommendation of Mr. Justice Barron when he produced his report, into which so much work went subsequently by the justice committee of this House.

We know that substantial progress has been made in the area of policing since the Good Friday Agreement. There was progress up to the past 13 or 14 months with regard to parades. According to a recent report in the Irish News, and from recollection, I believe it referred to almost 200 sensitive parades that were permitted last year despite failure by the organisers to complete forms correctly.

It is not acceptable that the Parades Commission would allow incomplete applications to be processed, finalised and approved. There are clear guidelines for the Parades Commission to ensure that parades are properly notified. To my recollection, only two parades in 2012 were not properly notified to the authorities, so the massive increase in non-notified parades has to be a cause of concern and emphasises again the need for the Haass talks to be progressed.

The parades issue did significant damage to the economy of Belfast and beyond, particularly around Christmas 2012 and into the early part of 2013. We do not want parades to cause the issues they have consistently caused for small communities where there is thuggery and intimidation through the misbehaviour of a number of people taking part in those parades, which are not properly organised and where the organisers take no responsibility for organising them properly.

More than 3,600 people died in the troubled era that scarred this island for more than three decades. The wave of violence that consumed so many lives in the North has left a dark legacy for an entire generation. Out of that bleak period, the Good Friday Agreement emerges as a shining light. For the first time since 1918 the entire island voted as one, and voted overwhelmingly in favour of moving beyond the bloody battles of the past towards a shared future. That Agreement was not a free pass to the individuals who chose the route of violence that terrorised the North over 30 years, nor was it-----

Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Deputy's time is up.

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

To conclude, I would have thought greater effort would have been made to try to complete the Haass talks and to reach agreement coming up to St. Patrick's week. I commend the Alliance Party, the SDLP and Sinn Féin on the huge effort they put in to try to reach an agreement when Dr. Haass was here chairing and leading those talks.

I said months ago and it is still my opinion that the two Governments should have been more active participants in those talks. When we look back on the recent history of our country, and in particular go back to the Downing Street Declaration of 15 December 1993, the two sovereign Governments, under the British Prime Minister and the Taoiseach of the time, Albert Reynolds, drove that process. Similarly, with the Good Friday Agreement and the St. Andrew's Agreement, it was the two sovereign Governments driving the process that brought it to a successful conclusion.

There is great potential in the Haass talks to deal with those particular issues that continue in many respects to scar individuals and communities throughout the North of Ireland and that have a downside for all of this island. After St. Patrick's week, we go in again to an electoral process North of the Border, with European and local elections, and then we are into the marching season. There is an urgent need to bring to a successful conclusion the Haass talks that offer so much potential for all of this island.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Ar dtús báire, ba mhaith liom a rá go raibh mé ag iarraidh moladh a thabhairt don Rialtas maidir leis an gcaoi ina bhfuil na focail bhreátha a bhí i gclár an Rialtas, a shocraigh siad trí bliana ó shin, á gcur i bhfeidhm acu. Bréag mhór a bheadh ann a leithéid a dhéanamh, áfach, ós rud é nach raibh focail bhreátha ar bith sa chlár sin. Ar an drochuair do phobal na tíre seo, ná raibh fís ná athrú treo ar bith soiléir sa chlár. I mo thuairim, bhris clár an Rialtais na gealltanais a thug Fine Gael agus Páirtí an Lucht Oibre, agus iarrthóirí na bpáirtithe sin, don phobal le linn toghchán na bliana 2011.

It is ironic that the programme for Government contains a quote from Albert Einstein: “Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.” A better quote for the programme for Government, and one more often attributed to Einstein, would be his definition: "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." Economic and socially, this Government has been a continuation of Fianna Fáil's austerity rule in word and in deed. We have different players. We have a different Taoiseach, and he is far more sober than the last one. He does not need as many lozenges when he addresses "Morning Ireland" in the morning, but still the policies remain the same. The same austerity is crippling the Irish people.

Much space is given to banking in the programme for Government. When this Government entered power, the banks were broken and they still are. They are still not playing their role in building a proper recovery and this Government is letting them away with it. The top bankers cannot believe their luck. After Fianna Fáil, they have equally been given a weak Government that is afraid to stand up to them. We saw in the first weeks of this Government that Ministers were talking tough, talking brave, talking the talk, walking the walk, demanding that bankers come to Government Buildings to be given a dressing down for not passing on interest rate reductions. That soon faded away. No more talk of interest rate reductions when the ECB, time after time, cuts its rate. No more talk about pay cuts for senior executives in Bank of Ireland, and yesterday we had the announcement that Richie Boucher did not take one cent of a reduction in 2013.

The Government brings in a bank levy, the banks pass on the levy, the people pay and the Government says nothing. The Government looks for a pay cut from top bankers, the banks cut the pay of ordinary workers and sack them, the people pay and the Government does nothing. That is the Government's policy - do nothing. It is failing. Bank after bank is announcing cuts and redundancies. Some have disappeared from the State altogether, some are selling off their mortgages to unregulated companies and, again, the Government does nothing.

Where is the strategic investment bank promised by the Labour Party? Three years later, are we supposed to believe that a vague arrangement with a German bank is the same thing? Who is kidding whom? The number in mortgage arrears is still very high, and the banks are being left to deal with it in their own way and in their own time. The number in mortgage arrears has doubled in the first two years of this Government. The Minister, Deputy Noonan, has said he told the banks that letters threatening legal action do not constitute offers under the mortgage arrears resolution targets, but ask the Minister how he has told them, and we find that he was met with a deafening silence.

Meanwhile, a long time ago - or at least it seems a long time ago for many - the Government promised and committed to introducing a two-year moratorium on repossessions of modest family homes where a family makes an honest effort to pay their mortgage. I and thousands of families across the State must have missed the Government's small print where it stated, "...and then we will legislate so that the family home can be repossessed as a first resort", because that is what this Government has done in the removal of the protection of the family home without any sort of replacement. It was a brutal and cold decision that it took at the behest of the banks, and it was shameful.

Personal debt, especially mortgage debt, is something the Government is unable to tackle or is incapable of tackling. It has flapped around and made a lot of this, but it has achieved nothing of note. Personal debt remains a huge problem. Those who work with people in debt will say that the Personal Insolvency Act has been a damp squib at best for the many thousands of people for whom the Government thought it would be a saviour. For those who have benefited from it, however, it has been a huge relief.

Likewise, banking debt remains a crippling noose around our necks and makes economic growth difficult. There is no doubt that Fianna Fáil made a mess of it by taking on private banking debt as public debt, but this Government has failed to remove it.

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Deputy voted for it.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Time and time again - three times - the Government has voted to renew the bank guarantee. In fact, in the case of the toxic Anglo debt, the Government has actually formalised its sovereign debt.

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

We begged them not to do it, but they voted for it.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

It has turned the promissory note, on which there was no vote in this House, into sovereign debt.

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Is the Deputy saying he cannot remember voting for it?

Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State, Deputy Lynch, may not understand the rules of the House and perhaps what I am saying about the Government is a bit uncomfortable in regard to Anglo debt. Can the Minister of State remember what it was she sanctioned and supported when the Government came into office three years ago? I will remind her. One of the Government's first actions was to issue a cheque to Anglo Irish Bank to the value of €3.1 billion.

Can I tell the Minister of State about another thing the Government did? It injected €21 billion of the people's money into AIB and Bank of Ireland.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State will have her time to debate these issues. These are facts that are on the record. The Minister of State will have time to defend using the public's money in this way and the fact the Government has turned the toxic Anglo Irish Bank debt into a formalised sovereign debt. The more we learn about what happened at the bank and at Irish Nationwide Building Society, the more disgusted the public becomes at the notion of paying off their debts. Yet this Government has committed to paying every last cent of that debt. Despite the number of times I have asked about unguaranteed and unsecured bondholders in Anglo Irish Bank who had nothing to do with the vote on the night of the guarantee because they were unguaranteed, this Government has continued to allow that State bank to pay off unguaranteed bondholders. Whether it is €1.2 billion or €800 million, it does not matter to the Labour Party and Fine Gael. It does not matter to the Government. The people will pay. The Government will introduce property taxes and water taxes, cut child benefit, reduce the amount of home help hours, take services out of hospitals and increase fees for students. They will pay for the unguaranteed and unsecured bondholders. The Government will ensure these big hedge funds, the people who bought these bonds at 60 cent in the euro, get paid every single last cent and get their bonus on top of it.

Let us not talk about bonuses because the Government is good at those as well. We have pay caps for those on disability payments, those who rely on pensions, the under-25s who are out of work and those who go on to schemes such as JobBridge and the Government's new concocted scheme. However, when it comes to the Government's special advisers and party hacks, it does not worry about the pay caps. Its attitude is: "Sure they are one of us. They are the old boys network." It does not worry about the pay caps because one Minister will write to another and tell him or her that he is one of our boys and not to worry about the pay caps because they are for the other people, the lesser beings. The golden circles may have been smashed in 2008 but they have reformed with the support of this Government. There are circles and little fiefdoms in Cabinet that the Government continues to protect them.

In respect of the money pumped into our pillar banks, very little progress has been made. With every passing day, the prospect of the European Stability Mechanism being used to recapitalise our pillar banks retrospectively fades. I hope it will happen but it seems it is important to listen to the president of the Eurogroup, the German Finance Minister or the ESM chief and, sadly, they do not think it will happen. Given the rules this Government signed up to on how the ESM can be used, it is difficult to imagine a large part of that debt ever being eligible for recapitalisation. That is the terrible failure of this Government. Since 2008, approximately €30 billion has been cut from public services and salaries or levied through tax. That is equivalent to the amount that could be recouped if this Government had a plan and the determination and commitment to stand up for the retrospective recapitalisation of our banks, but it has failed even to ask for it. On banking debt, like personal debt, this Government has flapped about and achieved very little.

When it comes to laying out fiscal policy, the most startling aspect of the programme for Government is what it does not say. There is no strategy or vision other than a commitment to reduce the deficit to 3%. The lack of detail of how the Government plans to get there is stark. There are a few bullet points on what it was not going to do so there are no changes to corporation tax or income tax bands. There are a few vague bullet points about making tax exiles contribute more and cutting loopholes. There are points that represent downright spin. Examples include the increase in VAT being referred to as limiting VAT at 23% and the exploring of a site value tax with the IMF which was transformed into a property tax. Given that both parties made the reduction of the deficit to 3% practically their sole goal in office, the programme for Government's fiscal policy reads like a mere footnote compared with other sections in the programme. It is barely one tenth of the many pages that are set out on job creation and we know the Government's goal on that is an unemployment rate of 10.4% after four glorious years in office.

Considering how much work would be required to get the deficit to 3%, it is astonishing how little of it was included in the document. We all know why it did not include the detail because telling people that over the course of its tenure, they could expect billions upon billions of euro in tax increases and public service cuts in each budget was hardly desirable. If the Government had told people at the start what it was planning with the property tax, that might have raised alarm bells. There is no site value tax. Instead, the Government introduced a highly regressive tax on family homes that took no account of ability to pay, mortgages or stamp duty paid. The Government presented to families the length and breadth of this State a tax on the value of the roof over their heads. If those families have parents who have lost jobs, who are in mortgage distress, who bought during the boom, who paid €30,000 in stamp duty and who now live in houses worth a quarter of what they owe to the banks, none of that matters to the Government one damn bit. The Government has told them they must stump up and pay the property tax. What is worse is that it has tried to claim that it is somehow fair. If it is fair, why did both parties campaign during the election on the basis that they would not introduce such an unfair tax? The Government has said the property tax will go into providing local services but we all know that not one cent of the money raised last year went to any local authority.

In its programme for Government, the Government committed to maintain tax rates, bands and credits. Clearly, it did not keep its promise on tax credits. Last year, it made changes that meant that separated fathers lost €2,490 in tax credits every year, so the Government cannot for one moment say it has kept its promise after asking separated fathers to stump up another €2,500 per year in tax, but then nothing about the Labour Party and Fine Gael and their brass neck surprises me these days.

The Government has engaged in a lobby-led discussion about tax cuts in the coming budget which would mean changes to existing tax bands, but only at the marginal level. Sinn Féin firmly believes there should be tax cuts in the next budget. We want to see the property tax abolished saving 1.8 million households an average of €278 per year. We want the Government to commit investment money to fix leaking water infrastructure and not introduce water charges for families next year. We would very much like the Government to revisit the programme for Government commitment to review the universal social charge, USC. It tinkered with it when it came into office and raised the entry point of the USC to just over €10,000. It was welcome but if the Government really wants to address tax being a disincentive to work, this is the tax it needs to look at. We have argued that the USC entry point should be raised to €17,542 per annum. As it stands, this Government expects people earning between as little as €193 and €337 per week to pay USC on their entire wage. Families need tax cuts via the abolition of property tax and water charges. Low earners need tax cuts in the form of the USC entry point being increased. These are the areas the Government should be discussing.

The Government's fiscal policy has been a disaster for Irish families, jobs and the economy. It has lengthened and deepened the recession. Now the Government is approaching its blinkered goal of 3% debt to GDP ratio, it is actively considering adapting its fiscal policy to ensure that in a future recovery, people who are better off to begin with benefit most. This is a fiscal policy stance that deepens inequality and does not adequately provide for a future economy that is stable and can fund the public services people desire and depend upon.

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I have heard the rewriting of history in my time but I have never experienced it to the extent that I heard in the previous speaker's contribution.

We are in the position we are in. I listened to Deputy Smith's comments on the awful time that was the late 1980s. This country has never found itself in a greater financial crisis than it does now. On the night when Labour begged Sinn Féin not to vote for the bank guarantee, it pooh-poohed us and still voted for it. Now its members have the brass neck to tell us that we should not be doing what we are doing to get the people of this country off the hook for the bank guarantee and what they would have done differently. That type of revisionism is breathtaking, to say the least. They voted for it even though we begged them not to and we are paying the price now. The country is only beginning to recover because of the hard work and dedication of our Government. Sinn Féin cannot disassociate itself from that night, nor should it try. I have never heard the likes in my life. Then again, Sinn Féin is good at revisionism.

As I only have a little time, I will set out the priorities for the coming year in my area of responsibility. In terms of older people, the priority will be the development of an integrated model of care with a strong emphasis on home care and other community services. Some €23 million is being transferred from the fair deal scheme budget to community services to deliver a greater range of care options, prevent unnecessary hospital admissions, avoid undue delays in discharges from acute hospitals and provide rehabilitation to support older people in returning home. This will occur in various stages. In the first stage, €10 million will provide 190 intensive home care packages, IHCPs, to benefit 250 people annually. Under the second stage, €3 million will be used to commission 25 intermediate-transitional care beds to benefit 650 people and 20 beds for complex cases to benefit 130 people. There is a particular difficulty in terms of intermediate and transitional beds, that is, the piece between home and hospital and vice versa, but we are hoping to address it. Far more will be necessary in the years to come, but this is nevertheless a significant start.

The third stage will see €10 million used to address funding shortfalls in the provision of public short-stay beds and maintain the current provision of 1,860 beds. This is seen as a first step in aligning the model of care more towards the community in line with Government policy and the expressed wishes of older people. It should be noted that the single assessment tool, SAT, project will implement a standardised IT-enabled health and social care needs assessment for older people nationally. Implementation will proceed as planned, with the first phase to commence in 2014 and a minimum of 50% of all new entrants to the nursing home support scheme, NHSS, and the home care package and home help schemes to be assessed by the SAT in the last quarter of 2014. There will be full implementation by the end of 2015.

Financial support for long-term nursing home care is provided under the NHSS. The budget for long-term residential care in 2014 is €939 million, a reduction of €35 million on the 2013 position. This reduction includes the €23 million that I have already outlined and that is being transferred from the NHSS budget to community services. The full details are on our website. The HSE's National Service Plan 2014 sets a target of 22,061 people to be in receipt of financial support towards the cost of long-term nursing home care by December 2014. This will be a reduction on the position that obtained at the end of 2013, the figures on which are not yet available but will be shortly. It is estimated that this reduction will be in the region of 700 to 800 people. The review of the NHSS will consider its long-term sustainability as well as related aspects of home and community care. Work on the review is ongoing and we are expecting its report shortly.

In 2014, the key deliverables in terms of mental health are the delivery of an implementation plan for the remaining three years of A Vision for Change; promoting positive mental health and improving suicide prevention, including the development of a new strategic framework to enhance the implementation and governance approaches associated with suicide and outstanding actions for Reach Out, the national suicide prevention strategy; and addressing fundamental issues within mental health services, including the commencement of a number of key projects to address ICT gaps, that is, how we connect with one another and use the information that is necessary for planning, the development of an initial workforce plan for 2014 to bring certainty around essential replacements, and an improved training and development strategy for mental health.

Disability is the area in which the greatest change is about to come. Currently, the Government provides funding of approximately €1.5 billion to the disability services programme through the HSE's national service plan. This is just a fraction of what is spent on disability, but it is the amount for which I have responsibility. The Government is committed to protecting front-line services for people with disabilities to the greatest possible extent. In 2014, the HSE is seeking to maximise the provision of services within available resources and to maintain a consistent level with that provided in 2013 by providing the following specialist disability services: residential services to more than 9,000 people with disabilities; day services to more than 22,000 people with intellectual and physical disabilities; respite residential support for more than 7,500 people with intellectual and physical disabilities; and 3.7 million hours of personal assistance-home support. An additional €14 million has been provided to address the priority needs within the disability services that arise as crises every year, for example, emergency admissions and people leaving services and schools. Surely if we know the numbers each year, we cannot continue to call it a crisis. Therefore, we have made provision in this regard. We have also put in train a system by which we must be notified much earlier of how many people will be leaving services and what their needs will be. This will be a major improvement on what has existed to date.

Some €4 million has been provided to deliver the required increase in services for children with disabilities, including autism, and to reduce waiting lists under the progressing disability services for children and young people programme, that is, people from birth to 18.

Value for money savings and cost containment measures of €5 million in sections 38 and 39 agencies have been identified but have not yet been allocated to the disability budget. The level of home support and personal assistance hours provided in 2014 will be the same as that provided in 2013. A total of 150 people will be facilitated in moving from institutions to homes in the community. The level of respite care provided will also remain at 2013 levels.

I will briefly address the mobility allowance. We are working on legislation as a result of our investigation into how we can best provide for people who are in need of this personalised allowance. I reassure those who rely on this allowance that nothing will happen until the legislation comes to fruition. It is our intention that as many people as possible be safeguarded.

I am always conscious that the last of the areas for which I am responsible - it should be at the very front, of course - is that of equality. We completed two reports today, those being, a mid-term review of the national women's strategy and an evaluation of what needs to be done by 2016. We are also working on a parental leave Bill. The situation is more complex than people might have imagined and we are conscious to ensure mothers retain their current levels of protection. We hope to publish the legislation towards the end of the year.

We are also working on a way to stop domestic violence instead of simply patching people up and sending them home.

Robert Dowds (Dublin Mid West, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I dtús báire, ba mhaith liom an Rialtas a mholadh as an sár-obair atá á dhéanamh aige don tír. In particular, I acknowledge the great achievements of the Government in the promissory note deal and in emerging from the bailout. I acknowledge the endurance of the people of this country. I acknowledge the Minister of State's work in the area of mental health, which I greatly appreciate. It is a mark of the work that has been done that we have seen 61,000 new jobs created in the last year. It is only a step towards where we need to be but the Government has put the country in a much better place than it was in when we entered office.

One issue the Government must prioritise between now and the next election is housing. We have a growing housing crisis which we must address as soon as possible. I want to talk about social housing and private housing, both of which are required. There are approximately 90,000 households on waiting lists for housing, partly a result of the improvement in employment. Fundamentally, the waiting lists reflect the fact that the previous Government, which was in office from 1997, spent almost nothing on social housing notwithstanding the fact that it had huge resources at its disposal. It is important to make that point. The previous Government left it to an amateur private tenancy market to look after the needs of people on housing lists. That is manifestly failing. We are left, yet again, having to pick up the tab for the failure of the previous Government to do its work.

It is important to get across the urgency of this situation. Within a mile of where I live there are two hotels which many Deputies pass regularly. They are Bewley's Hotel at Newlands Cross and the Ibis Hotel at the Red Cow and they are full of people who are homeless. It is appalling that they are reduced to living in situations like that. We require a building programme for social housing for the families who need a much more secure system than has obtained to date. A programme will have the advantage of housing those people, building communities and getting unemployed building workers back to work. I acknowledge the issue of finance and note the €100 million which has been set aside for work in this area this year. As the Minister of State with responsibility for housing, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, would acknowledge, it is a fraction of what is required. I urge the Government to do everything in its power to find the extra money required. The pressure is on to a huge extent. Many private landlords are now refusing to take people who are on rent subsidy. In other cases, they are selling or being obliged to sell properties due to debt. There is a real and urgent need. It is therefore important that Part V is maintained and strengthened until such time as we get on top of the crisis.

I recognise that the crisis in housing relates not only to social housing but includes private housing. For the first time in seven years, I saw a major planning application in my county for 250 houses at Saggart. I was delighted to see it, but it is only a fraction of what is required. It is important that the Government in the construction strategy plan on which it is working ensures that there is money for builders to borrow to invest in construction. The Government must also ensure that people who need mortgages can get them. If that side is addressed, it will help to tackle the pent-up demand for private housing that is particularly evident in the greater Dublin area, Cork city, Galway city and various other places. The extent of the problem is demonstrated in relation to greater Dublin by a discussion I had with my colleague, Deputy Jack Wall. He lives in the Athy area, which is 50 miles from Dublin. There is a serious housing problem even there notwithstanding that a great deal of housing was built in the area during the so-called Celtic tiger boom years. It is very important to tackle this issue head on and I urge the Government to do so.

There are other actions which must be taken. We must ensure there is enough land available for housing. All local authorities should be chased to ensure sufficient lands have been zoned. In my county, some land which was zoned as far back as the 1970s remains ready for building. It is important that it is brought into play. There must be an element of imagination in tackling the issue. In city and town centre areas, there is a serious problem of dilapidation and under-habitation of buildings. One can see it when one drives along Cork Street and Thomas Street in Dublin. I was talking to a friend of mine who lives near Bailieborough in County Cavan. He told me that there is only one family still living on Main Street in that town. I have no doubt that situation is happening across the country. Methods to bring life back to those places would help to deal with the issue. A further action which is needed is to ensure that NAMA properties are made available. Even in Dublin, there are NAMA properties which remain unoccupied. The sooner those are made available to people, the better.

In the main, I acknowledge the huge progress the Government has made for the people and I urge it to prioritise housing in both the social and private sectors. We do not want the embarrassment of more people being forced to live in unsuitable accommodation such as hotels and caravans. We must tackle this. After food and water, what is our most basic requirement but shelter? Housing must be a top priority in the years that remain to the Government. It must be tied to the development of jobs. People need places to live and we need to build new communities for those who are waiting for the chance to form families and homes.

Anne Ferris (Wicklow, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

There has been a great deal of discussion about Ireland progressing beyond the bailout. For the Government to have regained Ireland's independence from troika oversight last December has been to take a firm step on the road to recovery. A year-on-year job creation rate of 61,000 jobs is certainly a step on the road to recovery also. Wiping €40 billion off debt repayment over the next 20 years is also a stage on the road to recovery. The State's share of Ireland's massive bailout debt is more than €200 billion. The repayments on borrowings alone will take €8 billion from the pockets of Irish people this year.

The reason for the cuts and the pain and distress in people's everyday lives is that large amounts of money must be removed from the economy every year in the post-bailout period solely to service debt. While Ireland is on the road to recovery and in a much better place now than it was in January 2011, the great shame is that this country of hard-working people needed a bailout in the first place.

On any long road it is sometimes valuable to look backwards and ask how one got to this point. I propose to return to June 2005 for a moment. Even then, when the economy appeared to be strong, there were signs that all was not well. According to the Central Statistics Office, in 2005 Ireland had the highest construction output per capitaof any European country and twice the construction output of the United Kingdom. One in eight people was employed in construction, which was 50% higher than the European average, and we had the highest rate of residential building in the European Union. The State received €2 billion in stamp duty revenue from property transactions in 2005, a threefold growth in three years, and the total value of mortgage debt increased sixfold from €33 billion to €200 billion in the previous three years. While the value of the average new mortgage in 2000 stood at approximately €100,000, by 2005 the figure had doubled to €200,000, with one third of all homes costing more than €300,000. The property market was showing all the danger signs associated with a bubble, which is what transpired.

Where was the Fianna Fáil-led Government in June 2005? What was it doing to avert impending catastrophe? Its members were playing golf at the K Club. In June 2005, the K Club hosted the fifth annual US-Ireland Alliance Golf Challenge. Most of the Irish team are now household names, albeit not on the basis of their golfing skills. The team that played for Ireland included Peter Butler, group head of banking in Anglo Irish Bank; David Drumm, chief executive of Anglo Irish Bank; then Minister for Finance, Deputy Brian Cowen; Laurence Crowley, governor of Bank of Ireland; Bernard McNamara, former Fianna Fáil Party councillor turned billionaire property developer; and Derek Quinlan, former tax inspector turned billionaire property developer. That night, at a gala dinner in Dublin, the golfing prizes were presented to the winning team by the Fianna Fáil Party's current leader, Deputy Micheál Martin. The Irish team won the trophy and Ireland, specifically its pensioners, young people and families with inflated mortgages and those who have lost homes, jobs and security, continues to pay the price.

In light of what Fianna Fáil had reduced the country to by the time the troika arrived with its bailout, the progress this Government has achieved in steering the country to recovery is nothing short of a modern miracle. People have endured too many sacrifices to repay the cost of the poisoned chalice presented by Deputy Martin to his golfing buddies in 2005. It has taken considerable effort to turn the corner towards recovery. As we look forward beyond the bailout, it is right and proper, therefore, that we cast a glance back along the road we have travelled since 2011. In doing so, we must ensure we never return that way again.

On the Order of Business yesterday, Deputy Martin queried the reason for arranging this debate this week given that statements had been made on this issue last week. The reason for this debate is to ensure the Fianna Fáil Party does not forget that it caused the mess in which we find ourselves.

Dominic Hannigan (Meath East, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak in this debate, on which the Opposition is making much hay. The Fianna Fáil leader, Deputy Martin, argued yesterday that the House is spending too much time discussing the Government's priorities. It is important to take time to discuss from where we have come in the past three years and where we will go in the next two years. The purpose of these statements is to discuss the Government's priorities for the years ahead, not to slap ourselves on the back and say we have done a good job. Our task is not even half finished.

The coalition has been working together for three years. I recall knocking on doors in February 2011 during the general election campaign. I had never experienced such anger on the doorsteps. In some cases, people were so angry that it did not matter which party the canvasser represented. Members of the public wanted to let off steam and we all became fair game, which was completely understandable given that the terrible state in which Fianna Fáil and its supporters had left the country. Matters have moved on in the intervening years. I was canvassing in County Meath recently for the local elections and while people are still angry, they are allowing themselves to be a little more optimistic about the future. We must continue to build on this optimism.

The decisions the Government has taken, often under intense political pressure, are making a difference. The results of our tough decisions include a reduction in unemployment from 15% at the time the Fianna Fáil Party left office to 12% today. While this figure is still too high, we are on the right trajectory and the number of jobs is no longer declining. In recent months, 1,200 jobs have been created each week. The economy is growing as opposed to receding, as was the case when the Government took office, and there has been a significant increase in the number of tourists. The growing number of foreign visitors is generating jobs in the hospitality industry. While there are signs that things are improving, it would be foolish to believe we have done enough. Much remains to be done to ensure Ireland is never again required to go begging and borrowing around the world.

People need to know what the Government plans to do in its final two years in order that they can feel confident that the recovery will last. They need to trust that jobs and opportunities will be created. Stability is the key to real recovery. If a business owner in Ratoath or Duleek is considering taking on more staff or expanding his or her business, he or she needs to know if people will have more income in their pockets to spend in that business.

We must be clear about what we intend to do to reduce pressure on the squeezed middle, in other words, hard-pressed families. Government expenditure on local projects can also help generate additional income in communities. If people see money being spent on capital projects, they will take the Government seriously when it states it wants recovery to continue. My colleagues, Deputies Robert Dowds and Anne Ferris, referred to the need for new social housing. Investment in new social housing schemes not only benefits families who are currently without a home but also provides employment in the construction sector which, as Deputies are aware, badly needs a boost.

The Government was elected to deliver social reform and an economic programme. Our social reform agenda spans education, children's rights and industrial relations. There are more children at school than at any time in the history of the State. For this reason, we must build new schools, as is being done in Ashbourne, Kells, Duleek and Ratoath in County Meath, to address the increase in children entering the education system. We must pass the education Bill to ensure all children have equal access to education. Access to one's local school should not depend on where one's brother or sister went to school or the religious beliefs of one's parents.

The programme for Government includes a commitment to introduce collective bargaining. It is time this commitment was realised because collective bargaining is a right rather than a privilege. The Government still has two years to make a difference and ensure the recovery is sustainable. We must redouble our efforts to focus on jobs and the economy, without forgetting to introduce our important social reform programme.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I am pleased to be able to ask some questions in this debate. Why was the entire business of the Dáil last week and most of its business this week devoted to a back-slapping exercise? There is nothing worse than listening to people who feel it is necessary to tell us how good they are. People will tell the Government parties how good they are when their candidates knock on doors in the local and European elections. I extend my best wishes to all those standing for election. It is true that people were hostile to the outgoing Government during the previous general election campaign. While I was a member of one of the parties in the previous Government for a long time, I stood as an Independent candidate in the general election and I am proud to be an Independent Deputy today.

Many promises were made at the previous general election. Fine Gael and the Labour Party could have promised anything and they still would have been elected but they chose to engage in a bidding war. We were promised accountability, transparency, openness and honesty.

The bondholders were to be burned. I have referred more than once in this House to the Tánaiste, Deputy Gilmore, saying when in opposition that hell's fire would not be as hot as the bondholders and to people being allowed some bit of dignity. What happened? This Government took on the clothes of the previous Administration. I note the Minister of State, Deputy Lynch, is in the House. While she was very vociferous when in opposition, unlike her colleague who had the decency to get out of the kitchen when she was being bullied by the Minister, Deputy Reilly, she has stood over the closure of hospitals and cuts in funding that had been ring-fenced for disability and mental services. Like many other facilities throughout the country, the mental health service facility which had been in place in Clonmel for generations has been closed.

The troika then came to town. I met with the troika on a number of occasions. They were spun the same spin by officials of this Government as they had been spun by officials of the previous Administration, including that there would be 2% growth here and there and that this, that and the other job was being done. What was done to the untouchables, the barristers and the Judiciary? Nothing. The Minister, Deputy Shatter, without any prior discussion or debate brought forward a referendum to establish a new tier of the Judiciary, members of which were to be appointed by him and would be colleagues of Fine Gael and the Labour Party. However, 38% of the people voted against it.

The Government also promised to abolish quangos but it has created more than ever existed. In recent days, the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Quinn, spoke on radio about how he met Mr. Flannery wandering around the inner sanctum of Government. When the heat in the kitchen became too hot the Taoiseach dispensed with him, by agreement I would contend. Members of Government, including the Minister of State, Deputy Tom Hayes, then took to the airwaves saying that Mr. Flannery should appear before the Committee of Public Accounts to answer questions about this and that, following which Mr. Flannery resigned that evening. The whole situation was carefully choreographed. However, the people have not been fooled. They can see what is going on.

This Government even broke the cap on salaries for its advisers. This is the fifth day of the Government's self-congratulatory bunkum. Day after day the Taoiseach fails to answer questions put to him in this House. I engaged with him during Leaders Questions for six months. One regularly gets a completely unrelated response to the question asked. The Taoiseach cannot wait to go off on his travels to the US. When members of the Government were in opposition they continually condemned the number of Ministers who travelled abroad. During the first year of the troika programme they reduced to nine or ten the number of Ministers who travelled abroad. Now 38 Ministers are to travel abroad. I have no problem with the Taoiseach or particular Ministers travelling to particular countries but it is like the flight of the earls. I heard a Government spokesperson say that the cost in this regard is €330,000. Who do this Government think it is codding? It costs more than that to send 38 Ministers and their entourages abroad, and for what reason? As I said I have no problem with ten or 12 Ministers travelling abroad but 38 is ridiculous. I wonder if anybody will be left in charge of the country.

Another commitment of this Government was that the number of Ministers would be reduced. However, what we have witnessed is more jobs for the boys in terms of the number of advisers appointed and boards stuffed with Fine Gael and Labour Party colleagues. A former running mate of the Taoiseach, a solicitor, was appointed as a Justice. The Labour Party has done likewise. It is a case of tit-for-tat. As I have said more than once, this Government set out to punish the electorate for having the audacity to keep Fine Gael and the Labour Party out of government for 14 years and preventing them appointing their friends to high places. However, as in the case of the last runner in the relay, they have made up for it and stuffed their friends into every position. This cronyism and nepotism is disgusting and despicable. The public have had enough of it. I have been canvassing during the evening and at weekends over the past five or six weeks. The public can be fooled once but not twice.

The Minister of State, Deputy Lynch, has responsibility for disability services. As I have said previously, there appears to be an agenda in the Department of Health to attack people with disabilities. During the past two and a half years three attempts were made to cut the entitlements of disabled people. This year the cut was made without any discussion. I attended the disabilities forum in the Mansion House, which the Minister of State was too afraid to attend and answer questions. The Minister of State rather than blame the Minister, Deputy Reilly, for what is happening should take responsibility for her own portfolio and take care of vulnerable people who need to be looked after, including people in wheelchairs, carers and those in other difficult situations. The response of this Government is to always blame the previous Government. I was here when members of the Government were in opposition and were continually calling for more to be spent. The previous Government might have been reckless but the Opposition was even more reckless in terms of its continually demanding more, with no thought for the rainy day.

Deputy Anne Ferris referred to people playing golf. I have never played golf. The people she named were not the only ones playing golf. This Government has a new way of doing things. For example, it is kow towing to and at the beck and call of big business like EirGrid, which is trying to ruin our country. It is more disgusting cronyism. Many members of the Government are opposed to the North-South interconnector and promised if elected that they would oppose it. Legislation to deal with the issue will not now be ready until 2015. The Minister, Deputy Rabbitte, is like a spokesperson for EirGrid. Some months ago, I tabled a Priority Question on the matter to the Minister, Deputy Rabbitte. His response was that he has no responsibility for EirGrid, yet during the following month he was on radio shows with Matt Copper, Mary Wilson and others espousing the virtues of EirGrid. When following the recent storms many people were left without lights for a week the Minister had the arrogance and audacity to tell us that if we did not accept the pylons and his new-found policy and new bed-fellows in EirGrid, many of whom are investors from abroad, we would be forever living in the dark ages. What an arrogant cheek.

The Minister then appointed Mr. John O'Connor, who is bordering on 80 years of age, having spent 45 years in public service and 12 years elsewhere, as chairman of EirGrid.

Liam Twomey (Wexford, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I must ask the Deputy to refrain from naming people.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The person concerned is now the chairman of EirGrid and was formerly a senior officer in An Bord Pleanála who were examining the EirGrid proposals. This charade stinks from the high heavens.

Liam Twomey (Wexford, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I must ask the Deputy not to make accusations against any person outside of the House.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The whole charade stinks from the high heavens. We have been told we need what is proposed. I met this morning with EirGrid. We are being told one day by it that the energy will be for export and another day that it will service my constituents in Clonmel and I should not be opposed to it. We have been also told that to underground the lines would be nine times more costly. We are now being told undergrounding would be less than three times the cost of laying the lines over ground. We are all in a tizzy from the spin and PR. This Government has spent a great deal of money on PR and choreographing every situation, including the despicable cuts to mental health. The Minister of State, Deputy Lynch, refused at first to meet with the staff of St. Michael's Hospital in Clonmel. When she did arrive unannounced she complained because the door was locked. She said at that time that she had to pinch one patient to wake him up. Does the Minister of State recall that?

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I am sorry, but I have never pinched anybody in my entire life.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State told us she had done so.

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I did not.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

On the Minister of State be the lie. I will get the minutes of the meeting for her.

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Do.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State told us that.

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I never did that.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State told us she did.

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I did not. I said I shook the patient.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State is in such a spin she does not remember what she did two years ago.

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I said I shook the patient.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State told us that she had to pinch the patient to wake him.

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I did not.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Yes, you did.

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I did not.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The record will show that the Minister of State did say that. Can I continue?

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

No, the Deputy cannot continue until he withdraws that remark.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State does not even believe her own propaganda. The Minister of State told us that.

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I ask the Deputy to withdraw what he said.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I will not withdraw what I said because that is what the Minister of State told us, unless she is telling me now that she told us a lie.

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I did not pinch anybody.

Liam Twomey (Wexford, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Deputy McGrath has asked the Minister of State to respond to his question and she has done so.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I am on my feet. I understand I have the floor. The Minister of State will have time to reply.

Liam Twomey (Wexford, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Deputy asked the Minister of State if-----

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Deputy has privilege in this House-----

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State told us that she had pinched a patient to wake him.

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

-----and should not abuse it.

Liam Twomey (Wexford, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Does the Deputy accept the Minister of State's reply that she is not-----

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

No. Which reply am I to believe, the one given here or the one previously given?

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The one that is true.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State should check the record.

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Deputy can believe the reply that is the truth.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I cannot believe two stories. This is what is wrong with this Government. The Labour Party does not know what Fine Gael is doing and Fine Gael does not know what the Labour Party is doing.

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I know what I said.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

We are then left in a mess with nobody, except themselves and their spin doctors, getting any services.

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I can speak only for myself.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State cannot be right both times.

Liam Twomey (Wexford, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Deputy McGrath has made an accusation against the Minister of State.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I am only repeating what she told us in Clonmel.

Liam Twomey (Wexford, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Deputy understands Standing Orders.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Yes, I do understand but I am not going to listen to spin. Either what the Minister of State said then or what she said now is correct.

Liam Twomey (Wexford, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

When I am speaking, the Deputy is supposed to remain quiet.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I am sorry.

Liam Twomey (Wexford, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

He understands the Standing Orders of the House, which have been explained to him on numerous occasions.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Of course they have been explained to me.

Liam Twomey (Wexford, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

In view of the fact that the Minister of State has indicated that she did not say what the Deputy claimed she said, he must withdraw his accusation.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

She told me about the incident previously.

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I did not.

Liam Twomey (Wexford, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I am not getting into a debate with the Deputy on the matter.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Dúirt bean liom go ndúirt bean léi go raibh fear i dTiobraid Árann a bhfuil póca ina léine aige. Does the Minister of State understand that?

Liam Twomey (Wexford, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Deputy should please stop. He is just bringing the House into disrepute at this stage. Will the Deputy withdraw the accusation he made?

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

If the Minister of State clarifies whether she was right previously or whether she is right now-----

Liam Twomey (Wexford, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State has indicated-----

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I cannot-----

Liam Twomey (Wexford, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

-----that she did not make the statement to which the Deputy refers.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State said she would not cut the budget for mental health services but she did so.

Liam Twomey (Wexford, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

This matter is a very straightforward.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

It is not straightforward. Either we have the truth or we have the facts.

Liam Twomey (Wexford, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Is the Deputy going to withdraw the remark?

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

If the Minister of State indicates that she did not say it previously.

Liam Twomey (Wexford, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State has already provided an answer in that regard. Is the Deputy going to withdraw the remark? A "Yes" or "No" answer will do.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I am not inclined to withdraw it.

Liam Twomey (Wexford, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Well then that is that. We must move on to the next item of business.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Cén fath?

Liam Twomey (Wexford, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

It is after 7.30 p.m. and we must proceed to Private Members' business.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

That is fine.

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

That is not the end of it.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I know it is not the end of it. The Minister of State can ask the people of Clonmel or even Cork whether it is the end of it.

Liam Twomey (Wexford, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

This matter can be dealt with later. We must proceed to the next item.