Liam Twomey (Fine Gael)

I move:

That Seanad Éireann, in light of the changing economic outlook of our economy, calls on the Government:

to accelerate the reforms of the sectors of our economy under its control and to dramatically improve the productivity and competitiveness of Government provided services;

to respect the role of the Oireachtas, as the legitimate forum of decision making for the people of Ireland, by fully informing the Oireachtas on the national pay talks in a timely fashion;

to ensure that vital infrastructure is delivered on time and gives value for money to the taxpayers of Ireland; and

to ensure that the necessary funding for all levels of the educational system, research and development, and IT development is provided so that we can deliver the knowledge-based society that Ireland must become in the future.

There is no doubt our economy is in good shape overall. It is no thanks to Government policy that it has remained in such good shape over recent years, but rather to the hard work and diligence of the people who have made great sacrifices over the past 15 years to deliver what has become known as the Celtic tiger. Things are changing, however, and the situation is no longer the same. We hear constantly in the media that if we do not take control of our economic problems, we will have to make difficult decisions later. We are already making them. In some respects Fianna Fáil has taken over the role of the Progressive Democrats and has become quite a tough right-wing part of Government.

The tough decisions being made now are ones that hurt the poor, the sick and the elderly. For example, the Health Service Executive is trying to deny operations to young sick children on the basis of costs. The Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Mary Hanafin, announced in the Dáil today that she intends to cut back on devolved grants to schools. She has already cut summer works projects and schools are now being asked to pay for their water. This is a dramatic change in society in a short time. The Government already is forcing the people to pay for its mistakes.

Let us look at this from the economic point of view. What do we expect from our economy? We want an efficient public sector and a competitive cost base, but there are problems in both these areas that are not being dealt with. Given that we rely heavily on foreign direct investment, we need an open and transparent democracy to prevent corruption which has a negative effect on how we are seen by people outside the country. We also need an infrastructure that allows our economy to change quickly and respond to growth, and a workforce with the necessary skills, training and education.

One area in which the Government is falling down particularly badly is in the provision of services under its control. Energy, transport and water charges have increased. It is not only water charges for schools that have increased. Water charges for businesses increase constantly. Rates and waste costs are also increasing and these costs are hitting businesses hard. Now that construction has decreased significantly, levies for county councils will decrease. The knock-on effect of this failure by Government to contain costs is that local authorities will have to increase their rates, water and, possibly, waste charges in the coming years. This is a result of the failure to deliver efficient local and Government services, despite the promises made so often.

The new buzz words are "the green agenda". This agenda is no more than double taxing or a means of increasing taxes. The Green Party must wake up to what is happening in our economy and start bringing forward proposals that will benefit rather than damage the economy.

Competitiveness is a significant issue. It has been ignored by the Government but will creep up on it very quickly. Competitiveness in the private sector has increased by 46% in recent years but only by 7% in the public sector. The public sector has grown dramatically in recent years and makes up 20% of our economy. If we continue to have poor competitiveness and productivity in Government services and if significant costs continue to be involved, this will spell disaster for our economy in the next few years, especially if we cannot maintain the massive growth that has been very much driven by the private sector. If we do not keep up that level of growth, we will run into major problems. This is the warning the European Union tried to give the Government this morning. It needs to wake up to what will happen to our economy if it is not careful.

Infrastructure is incredibly important to the economy but we are not investing enough in transport, roads, rail and ports. Our broadband is a standing joke internationally. For a country that prides itself on being an open, fast-moving economy that is in touch with what is happening around the world, broadband roll-out has failed miserably and is a national disgrace.

The extent to which house owners have been screwed by the Government will become more apparent at the end of the year when we see the huge drop in income from the construction industry. What is happening in the construction industry is a lesson for the Minister for Finance, Deputy Cowen. Once builders realised they no longer could sell their houses at inflated costs, they slashed their prices. They tried first to use the usual gimmicks of new kitchens, cars and holiday vouchers, but when they realised these would not work, they slashed their costs and brought them back to 2005 price levels. In leaner times we need fewer gimmicks and more value for money.

The Government needs to wake up to the need for value for money in all the services for which Government is responsible. Ireland has been lauded on its low unemployment rate of just under 5% and I accept this is low by European standards. We must ask whether we are getting value for money from the retraining and reskilling of our workforce and from the education programmes for workers. There is concern that significant sums may be going to waste in this regard.

I was very disappointed by the Government's efforts to dismantle the community employment schemes. These schemes are a social scheme and do not exist to provide an educated workforce. They have proved excellent where they have been set up and allowed to operate properly. If we consider many of the FÁS training schemes and courses, however, we must question the value for money obtained from those. While the Comptroller and Auditor General should examine this area, Ministers should stop deluding themselves and consider whether we get value for money with regard to training.

I have noticed there appears to be a significant number of people going on permanent or temporary illness related disability payments rather than saying they are unable to attend work. Has there been a significant increase in the cost of providing social welfare payments? If there is such a significant increase, this will have a knock-on effect in future years when there is less money and scope for the Government to spend money on these services. If there is an issue with why people cannot work, we need to investigate it more.

The Government must look at the cost of reskilling and retraining people for new jobs, especially people leaving the construction sector. Unfortunately, too many young men did not go on to college or to learn a trade or skill when they left school but went straight into the construction industry where they were well paid. They are the first to lose their jobs in the slowdown happening in the construction sector. Rather than the Government coming up with more harebrained ideas, which is what it has been doing in recent years, we must make sure we get good value for money from retraining these young men in order that they can continue to make a valuable contribution to our society.

We have heard a lot of talk recently, from the Taoiseach down, stating that the problems with our economy are a result of the challenging global climate. That can be described only as poppycock because the problems in our society can be sorted only out by us. Crying into our glasses and blaming what is happening in America and elsewhere is of no benefit to the people of this country. The problems in our economy are made by this Government and its policies and we want the Government to come up with innovative ideas to sort them out.

Last May, Fianna Fáil, through the Minister, Deputy Brian Cowen, said there was nothing to fear regarding the Irish economy because the party would ensure continued growth in our economy and the maintenance of a positive economic outlook. Unfortunately, we have seen with the Taoiseach's amazing, technicolour rainbow Government, that the dazzle is going very quickly. Now we are told it is the global economy that is causing the mess, but it clearly is not. Many of these problems have been made at home and are a result of a failure to deliver on the good times. Broadband is a clear example in this regard, but the same poor value for money has happened in the areas of road and railway infrastructure. We have been talking about redeveloping our ports for the past ten years and the failure to do so could put us at a severe disadvantage in the next ten years. The Government is simply too slow in making vital decisions.

The backlash for the Government will probably come from the unsheltered section of our economy, where the concept of a job for life never existed. Many people do not yet realise how much of a raw deal they have got in the past and will get in the future, when the economic situation gets much more difficult. When people start losing their jobs, there will be grave problems because many of them are highly indebted. This is something for which we must make allowances.

In 1983, when this country was considered to be in a serious financial predicament, our debt was basically the debt of the State. The Government had done most of the borrowing. Today this country is still in as much debt as it was in 1983, but most of the debt is personal. The ordinary men and women in the street are now responsible for the debt. We must make allowances for that in the context of the future of the economy. We must ensure that people do not become bankrupt, lose their homes or suffer disadvantage in any way because of the enormous level of indebtedness. It is also important that we look after the people who are outside the Government's responsibility. The Government is responsible for pensions and pay rates. The current pay talks should be discussed in detail in this House and not negotiated in private in Dublin Castle.

We have a responsibility to the people who have made the Celtic tiger what it is today. We must ensure they are not disadvantaged by any Government decisions made in the next two or three years, especially in the context of the cutbacks being made in the areas of health and education, as well as in terms of the way we deal with crime and the infrastructure in our economy.