Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I draw attention to proposals from the European Parliament for legislation relating to infant formula, which would forbid pictures of smiling infants or anything else that would idealise the use of infant formula. To deal with the trivial aspect first, at least children in Europe are allowed to smile. Between 25% and 30% of them will be unemployed if the European Union continues with its policies and then they will inherit a massive national debt. This is just silliness in the European Parliament. The serious point is that we have built a major industry in this area. The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Richard Bruton, and the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Simon Coveney, have drawn attention to the fact that Ireland is one of the major producers of infant formula in the world; therefore, our smiling infants must have had a big impact. Is this an attempt by competing countries in Europe to restrict the highly successful business we have built with the aid of these same smiling children? We should invite the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to address that problem and alert our Members of the European Parliament to the impositions this would mean for the economy.

I also note the abolition of the National Pensions Reserve Fund, with the money to be put into a stimulus package. That was a rainy day fund and as it has been raining for about five years, it was probably time to call it into play. However, serious problems could arise and there are serious dangers unless we do this properly. The multiplier effect of a stimulus in Ireland is small, as the Fiscal Advisory Council has stated. Unfortunately, we have inherited a political culture of clientelism and lobbying, which means that people will be seeking to have their favourite project paid for out of this money, regardless of whether it is of any use from the point of view of the national economy. As bureaucracy always expands its budgets, it will be an opportunity for that to happen. We have very weak definitions of capital in the traditional capital programme and appraisal of projects became a branch of the public relations, PR, industry. We need a central office of project evaluation, COPE, and independent project evaluations published approximately one year in advance in order that we can see what they contain. There is a danger this could seriously add to waste and inefficiency and we could end up where we started, with useless projects and a mounting national debt. I hope the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Brendan Howlin, or the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, will address the issue of spending the National Pensions Reserve Fund moneys efficiently.