Dáil debates
Tuesday, 26 September 2023
Ceisteanna - Questions
Programme for Government
4:10 pm
Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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5. To ask the Taoiseach if he will provide an update on the Programme for Government. [34060/23]
Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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6. To ask the Taoiseach if he will provide an update on the Programme for Government. [36120/23]
Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 5 and 6 together.
The Government has been working to implement the commitments in the Programme for Government which are advanced through the co-ordinating mechanisms of the cabinet committee structure. The ten cabinet committees established by the Government reflect the core policy areas set out in the programme for Government. The strategy statements of all Departments reflect the national priorities outlined in the programme for Government. The Department of the Taoiseach is continuing to help to advance the programme for Government commitments in the following significant policy areas: the implementation of the Housing for All strategy, including additional initiatives as necessary to advance crucial housing related commitments; the implementation of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021, the publication of the Climate Action Plan 2023; the introduction of Ireland's forestry strategy; progressing on-shore and off-shore renewable electricity support scheme auctions; the publication of a national hydrogen strategy; the launch of the Common Agricultural Policy, CAP, strategic plan with climate assistance for farmers; the implementation of the carbon budget programme and agreement on sectoral emission ceilings; advancements in Sláintecare, improving access, outcome and affordability for patients, while increasing the capacity and effectiveness of the workforce infrastructure and provision of patient care; oversight of the implementation of the third domestic, sexual and gender-based violence strategy; advancing the Government's commitments on the Shared Island initiative. The Department is also ensuring the implementation of New Decade, New Approach commitments, working with relevant Departments North and South to advance the goals of strengthening British-Irish relations including with the London Government and devolved Governments in Wales and Scotland. It is engaging with EU leaders to advance high-level objectives in the programme for Government, especially economic and competitiveness issues, energy security, external relations with the UK and continuing the strong collective EU response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The Department is also advancing the programme through pursuing our international commitments, including strengthening our relationship with the United States and implementing the UN Sustainable Development Goals; oversight of the implementation of A Policing Service for the Future, the Government's plan to implement the report of the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland through the policing reform implementation programme office of the Department; the development of a well-being framework for Ireland and its integration into the policymaking and budgetary systems; the publication of Harnessing Digital: The Digital Ireland Framework in February 2022 and its first progress report in December; progressing four citizens' assemblies, one each on a Dublin directly-elected mayor and local government structures, biodiversity, drug use and the future of education; and the establishment of a child poverty and well-being programme office to progress commitments identified in the programme for Government that will have the greatest impact on the lives of children experiencing poverty and those of their parents and households.
4:20 pm
Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I am very pleased to hear that the N5 Scramoge to Ballaghaderreen project was approved by Cabinet today and will now progress to the construction phase. I know the Taoiseach was fully supportive of this project when concerns were brought to his attention following the collapse of Roadbridge. This is a long-awaited project that is now estimated to cost in the region of €450 million. It will have a significant impact on the safety and quality of life of people in Counties Mayo and Roscommon and beyond. I acknowledge the Government's commitment in that regard.
I will also focus attention on the current capital programme, which I feel does not go far enough to address the major challenges facing our country, and on the need to continue to ensure balanced regional development. Over the next ten years, we will see a major transformation in Ireland with a growing population and an aging society. We therefore need to invest in new infrastructure and services to support growth and to ensure everyone can benefit from the opportunities ahead. We must continue to invest in our regional airports programme, in rail and in roads. We need enhanced capital funding to be provided for this. The Taoiseach has been a real champion of Knock airport and will know that it is a vital piece of infrastructure in our county, supporting tourism, business and regional growth. We need to continue to invest in Knock airport and in the rail network. I advocate strongly for the inclusion of the western rail corridor, a pivotal project in the All-Island Strategic Rail Review. I ask that these projects be supported in the revised capital programme.
Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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The programme for Government makes a number of commitments in the areas of climate change and public transport. It is essential that, when there is investment in public transport, it is accessible to everyone. In Baldoyle, where thousands of homes have been built over the last 20 years, people still do not have safe universal access to Clongriffin DART Station. Temporary access, provided 13 years ago, still remains in place. It is simply not fit for purpose. It is not clean or safe and it does not provide universal access, allowing people to feel safe while using it. For the past three weeks, the lifts in the temporary access route have been out of order. Parents with children in buggies, people who use wheelchairs and people with reduced mobility have been unable to access public transport at the train station at all. This is absolutely unacceptable. Will the Taoiseach and the Government contact Irish Rail about providing permanent, safe and universal access to Clongriffin Station? Will funding be provided for this?
Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity)
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I raise the case of 15 Cork-based nurses who are being denied the €1,000 Covid bonus. These nurses are members of the SouthDoc community intervention team. They administer intravenous injections of fluids, antibiotics and so on to patients who have been discharged from hospital back to their homes and communities. All 15 of these nurses were patient-facing during the Covid emergency. In other words, they risked their health and their lives to care for others in our health service. The bonus would cost their employer a mere €15,000, that is, €1,000 for 15 workers. The HSE has approved it but the direct employer, SouthDoc, pleads inability to pay. I understand a similar situation pertains at midlands CareDoc. Does the Taoiseach agree that this payment should now be made and that a real injustice is being perpetuated while it is not?
Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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The programme for Government says:
Ever since Ireland ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, we have signalled to those with a disability that we are now serious about making a difference – a difference that will make things better.
The Government has not done that, however. It has not acted to make things better. I attended a very powerful meeting last Monday night, organised by WALK, an organisation that does tremendous work in supporting people with intellectual disabilities. Service users, relatives, friends and staff packed out the biggest room in Rua Red and powerfully told their stories of how Government choices put up significant barriers that disabled them. There is a chronic shortage of residential places. There are very significant staff shortages because of the Government's failure to give pay parity to section 39 and section 38 workers. People with mild intellectual disabilities are often unable to get the psychiatric support they need. Will the Government act on this? Will it give pay parity and invest in staff now? Will it also make a significant investment in residential places?
Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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The programme for Government also speaks about developing the arts and culture sector. I will return to the points I made earlier so that the Taoiseach will fully understand them. I appreciate that he said he would look into them. Sometimes, I think there is a lack of understanding of what goes on in the arts, culture and film sector because of the magic and dazzle of film. However, behind that dazzle, there are two critically important groups. One comprises people like those involved in set construction, the stage crew and the props people - the production line who make the film happen. It is the same people again and again who make these films, all around the country for different film producers and all funded with public money. Those people work for years and years on fixed-term contracts but never is their service acknowledged or recognised even though they have been doing it for years. That has been going on for years. They are totally vulnerable. They are one category.
The second category comprises the creatives, the performers. They have a different problem. In the past, they used to get royalties from any film they did in perpetuity. Producers in Ireland are almost unique in the world in demanding that actors and writers sign away their rights to those future royalties to the producer company. They are demanding they get back those residuals, as they are called, just as actors, performers and creatives in the rest of the world have a right to their residuals.
Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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We need to see Government support for the stakeholder forum proposed by that report, which would deal with and look at all these issues and make sure they are aired properly, so that we can put in place a system that is fit for purpose. We all want to see the film industry blossom but we want to make sure that people are treated as they should be.
The programme for Government speaks about building stronger and safer communities. There are two things that will not serve that aim. Much has been said about the rosters. It is to be hoped the ongoing negotiations will deal with that. In my own home town, it would mean losing people from community policing and the drugs squad. There was some suggestion that this would not happen to specialist units but I think there is an element of people playing with words in that regard. The issue we have in Louth, along with Cavan and Monaghan, is that we are going to be served by one of the few three-county models to be put in place. Louth will also take in some of east Meath. The Taoiseach knows of the particular issues that have occurred across Louth, particularly in Drogheda with the feud. Dundalk is another very large urban area with particular issues. Whatever about streamlining, it does not make sense to have a single superintendent responsible for serious crime across that entire area.
There needs to be Government engagement with the Garda Commissioner and whoever else to get this rectified.
4:30 pm
Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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My question relates to the areas where the National Development Plan and the programme for Government might converge, or in some cases might not converge, leaving questions as to whether they might be advanced in line with the concerns of the local communities, where there is obviously continued activity to pursue these issues. Snags have occurred in the past regarding the programme for Government, and in particular the National Development Plan. How can the Taoiseach at this stage try to use his good influence to ensure that those concerns, barbs and hold-ups are resolved?
John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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I wish to speak on the Garda rosters. I am sure the Taoiseach is aware of this. I was talking to quite a number of younger gardaí over the summer because they attend the summer fairs and police those kinds of community activities. They are four days on, four days off at the moment. For gardaí, and particularly quite a number of younger gardaí in Dublin who live in what they describe as commutable counties, to move to a six days on, four days off roster would mean two additional days of travel. For younger gardaí who are parents, moving from four days to six days on would also mean two additional days of childcare. Obviously, these decisions are in the remit of the Garda Commissioner but if these facts are not already known to the Taoiseach, I was asked to pass them on to him. The roster would have a significant impact on the quality of life and the cost of living of young gardaí.
Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputies for their questions. As Deputy Dillon mentioned earlier, Cabinet today signed off on the tender and gave approval for the N5 Scramogue to Ballaghaderreen road project to go ahead. It is an investment of about €450 million and will dramatically improve access to and from County Mayo in particular. It will also have huge benefits for towns like Strokestown, Frenchpark and Tulsk in Roscommon, where the through traffic will be taken out, making those towns nicer places in which to live and visit. It is a huge investment in the west of Ireland and probably the biggest single transport project that will be approved this year by the Government. It comes on top of some other big transport investments in the west and the south west. I had the pleasure earlier in the year to open to Westport to Castlebar road and I look forward to opening the Macroom to Ballyvourney bypass later in the year. For people who say that we are not investing in roads or in the west and south west, this is the answer. There are very evident road projects opening and starting, and that pipeline continues.
I agree with Deputy Dillon's call for ongoing and increased investment in roads and rail and also in our regional airports. The challenge for the Government is that there are limitations other than limitations around the planning process, which can take some time and is not always successful. There are budgetary limitations, and increasingly we are constrained less by budgets and more by the availability of skilled people, ranging from engineers and architects to quantity surveyors and construction workers. We have to programme these things out in a way that is deliverable. We also need to appreciate that increasing budgets every year does not always mean that one gets more. Sometimes it just drives inflation, and one ends up paying more for the same. We are seeing a big issue around construction inflation at the moment.
Deputy O'Callaghan raised the issue of access to Clongriffin DART Station for people with restricted mobilities. I was not aware of that as an issue. I know some very new stations like Pelletstown Station in Dublin 7, which is in a new part of my constituency, cost a lot to build but they are very accessible. It was worth it, in many ways, because people can access it in a way they cannot access the older stations. I will certainly make inquiries with Irish Rail and see if it has a plan, or at least if it can have a plan, to improve access to that particular station. It is a relatively new one, so I am disappointed to hear that it was not built in such a way as to accommodate people with restricted mobilities.
Deputy Barry raised the question of the 15 nurses employed by SouthDoc. If I picked it up correctly, he said that the pandemic bonus, the €1,000, was already approved by the HSE. To the best of my knowledge SouthDoc, like the other doctor on call services, receives a mix of public funding and also private fees. I do not know exactly what the balance is there but I definitely think it should be sorted out and should be paid. I will make the Minister for Health aware that it was raised here, and perhaps something can be done to resolve.
On the section 39 bodies and pay parity, we debated this earlier in the Dáil. There is an offer on the table, which is a 5% pay increase in November, 3% backdated for several months and a commitment to further engagement, as was done in the past. What used to happen in the past is there would be a public sector pay deal and then a few months later there would be engagement on how that might apply to section 39 bodies. We would like to get back to that but unfortunately that offer has not been accepted. Perhaps that can change, as it is certainly still on the table.
I will go back to Deputy Boyd Barrett's questions on the film and audiovisual sector. I know some people who work in it. I know that one cannot produce this content or these great films and programmes, which we are very proud of and showcase our country very well, without the people who act in them, write them, and who do everything around the protection line, from riggers to cameramen to sound engineers and all of the people who are essential in this cultural industry. I do not know enough about the payment model but I know that sometimes it is a fee and royalties. Other times, it is a higher fee with no royalties. There should be a choice. I am not sure we can legislate for that but there should be a choice between a fee with royalties, or a higher fee if one forgoes the royalties. The idea of a stakeholder forum is a very good one and I will make sure that the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Gaeltacht, Arts, Sport and Media, Deputy Catherine Martin, is aware of that. What might work for the sector - I am only saying it might work - is some sort of employment regulation order or sectoral employment order. We have them in other areas like construction, childcare and security, and that at least means a minimum set of terms of conditions and rules that govern the area. Perhaps that might be a way forward.
Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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If we had the forum first it would be helpful.
Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I agree and like I said, I will make sure that the Minister, Deputy Martin, is aware of the view that we both hold.
On Deputy Ó Murchú's question regarding the new policing model, my understanding is that it is being piloted in a number of areas. Once that is done, there will be a review. The Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee, might be able to inform the Deputy a bit more about how that is going.
On the Garda roster, all of us can understand why the Covid roster is attractive. It is four days on and four days off, and there is also annual leave and public holidays. It is a very attractive roster in terms of work-life balance. However, it was for the Covid period and there are very few people, if anyone else in Ireland - certainly in the public service - who are still operating on a Covid roster. The difficulty that has been caused is that a lot of the time, gardaí are less available or not available when we need them to be. We have more gardaí than we had five years ago but everyone would agree that gardaí are less available than they were. That is not all down to the Covid roster but certainly, the Garda Commissioner has the view that it is part of the problem. This issue can be resolved by negotiation and that is how it should be done. The Garda Representative Association fought Government very hard to gain access to the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC. That is where these things can be sorted out. There is potential there for a new agreed roster which could then be balloted on. I encourage the Garda Representative Association to go to the WRC, allow this to be negotiated properly, and then put to ballot a revised roster. Perhaps there is a hybrid roster that might work.
On Deputy Durkan's question around National Development Plan, NDP delivery, there are a lot of different steps on the way to getting a project done. They take time. There is, of course, the whole planning and design part of the process. Sometimes that ends up in the courts and sometimes it does not. Then there is the whole tender process and then the actual construction and commissioning. Part of the role I gave the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, Deputy Paschal Donohoe, in the Cabinet reshuffle back in December was that enhanced role of NDP delivery, making sure that projects happen and happen more quickly. I am very frustrated, and everyone in the House is frustrated, by how long it takes some projects to get done. We need to improve that.