Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The project was acknowledged and welcomed by local Sinn Féin representatives.

I can assure Senator Dolan that I am well aware of the tension between section 38 and section 39 organisations. I understand the difference between them. I understand that this is a particularly live issue among organisations that provide services to citizens with disabilities and special needs. I will anchor this matter into current negotiations through the concept of affordability. It will be a tough task to reach an agreement on public pay but I will approach it in good faith and with a desire to reach an agreement. I am aware that our decisions about the rate of public pay must be affordable in two ways. First, in our ability to pay for same and second, the impact the rate of pay will have on other parts of our economy. While that would be traditionally understood in terms of the private sector and the relationship between public and private sector pay, which I think has profoundly changed in the past decade, I am aware that the decision that we make about public service pay will have consequences for other organisations that are not of the public service but provide public services. I take the point Senator Dolan made about this aspect.

Senator Dolan also made a point about the role of the health service and the cost of €14.1 billion. He also mentioned the consideration other Departments that spend money must give to take account of the people who have disabilities and needs when it comes to accessing public services. I agree with the Senator. Today, the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, in Cabinet brought forward a strategy on this very area. Earlier he identified transport as an example. He stated that when making capital choices in the future on buses and trains, we must be conscious of the needs of all who travel on them.

The Senator made a point about disabled people who are in work or want to return to work, a point also made by the Ministers for Health and Social Protection. I know both Ministers launched an initiative on this matter with the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath. The initiative seeks to make clear to people who have a disability or who are in the workplace that needs which are being met at the moment by the availability of a medical card will continue to be met for a long time until they enter the workplace. The Minister of State has highlighted this point a lot.

Senator Paddy Burke made a point about the cost of building a home and how we need to interrogate this matter even further.I entirely agree with the Senator but, as Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, I want to ensure that if we have difficulties in the private housing market - which we do at the moment - we do not allow the solution to rest entirely with the taxpayer. We are looking at the differential between providing a house or apartment in Ireland and doing so in other jurisdictions, and why there is such a differential, and I expect this work to be completed by June.

Senator Nash is not in the House but I will take up the points he made. For many years, the fact that the Irish taxpayer had to bear the cost of supporting our entire banking system was a cause of great and legitimate anger and, now that we have the prospect of unwinding it, I am at a loss as to why it is being opposed by the same people who were against the taxpayer taking on the cost at the time. If the Minister, Deputy Noonan, believes this is in the interest of the taxpayer it will commence but there is a broader rationale for considering it. If we want to reduce the systemic risk facing the Irish economy, there should be more owners of our pillar banks than the taxpayer.

I touched on some of the points made by Senator Buttimer, particularly the Cork-Limerick road. I agree with much of what Senator Grace O'Sullivan said. The decisions we make in the capital review may not meet many of the needs to which she referred because she may have different priorities from mine, but we did put terms of reference for climate change into the review. I will not prejudge the review but public and sustainable transport has to be a significant beneficiary of the process. We will not be able to make progress on standard of living and all the needs correctly identified by the Senator unless we make a lot more progress on high-capacity and high-speed public transport in the parts of the country where the population merits it.