Rose Conway Walsh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Senator is always trying to be helpful. It is very interesting when a Government colleague stands up and tells the Minister of State straight that what the Government is doing is not working, that what it has done previously has not worked, that rural Ireland is left behind and that this capital review needs to do something drastic and needs a new approach. I certainly agree with that. In fact, I think it needs a new Government to deliver it but that is for another day, hopefully, not before too long.

Every single expert who has expressed a view has said that the State is in need of a massive capital investment programme. We are coming from a very low base so the Government should ensure that whatever fiscal space that might exist is not frittered away on tax cuts but put to good long-term use in extra capital spend. Unfortunately, the stated position of those in power is that rather than invest, they think we can spare a good chunk of the fiscal space towards tax cuts.

When the Minister was appointed, he received a brief from Department officials which stated clearly with regard to the capital plan:

Many commentators criticised what they saw as an insufficiently ambitious programme. If the economy grows continuously over the next several years, pressure on economic infrastructure will increase and there may be merit in reviewing these plans. The overall housing supply challenge is certain to lead to demands for increased levels of capital and current expenditure investment in social housing. We would support additional resources for housing and housing related infrastructure.

The same year, the global competitiveness report ranked inadequate supply of infrastructure as the most problematic factor for doing business in Ireland. That was the challenge put before the Minister and the Government but they have not risen to it. The Minister can spin figures all he likes but the fact remains that this Government is putting tax cuts above the long-term investment the country requires. Its policies are precisely the type of short-term thinking that will lead to another mess. Both the Seanad and the Dáil debate Brexit a lot. The one thing that is completely within our control in order to fend off the challenge of Brexit is to invest - that is the one tool we have - yet it is bottom of the list. Long-term economic visions do not win votes. This is the blunt and short-sighted calculation being made by this Government.

The Government's capital investment plan puts capital investment at just 2.16% of GNP for 2018, which is a shockingly low level of capital investment and both reckless and unsustainable. It will also ensure that our capital investment remains one of the lowest in the EU. The Government will spin that this new programme will move us up that list. Well, this is exactly where we need to be anyway; we have a younger demographic profile than many other countries. The lack of ambition in the capital plan programme is a lack of ambition for the country. It is literally putting a cap on how much growth we can achieve.

I welcome the review of the capital programme. Sinn Féin's manifesto represented a substantial plan for the coming years. I accept some more money is going to go into capital but we must remember that the interpretation of the fiscal rules allows for smoothing of some capital spend over four years. That is all the more important in a tight year for fiscal space like this one. When the Minister stands before us in October and announces tax cuts, we must recall that every euro in tax cuts he announces amounts to €4 that could be spent next year on our schools, hospitals or roads. That is the Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil choice and it is the wrong one. The fiscal rules are a bad idea and are now, as Sinn Féin said they would, preventing necessary investment in our country. Has the Minister even raised the need for an exemption for Ireland for at least capital spending over the coming years, including the repayment of the €64 billion that was taken to fund the banks? This should be argued for anyway but especially so in light of Brexit. However, how we argue for that in Brussels when it sees the Government giving out tax cuts when it could be spending four times that amount on investment?

The Government plans to spend €70 million on flood defences next year increasing to €100 million by 2021. Is this the type of thing that can wait? The pre-fab replacement scheme could be accelerated so that our children are not taught in rundown schools. I could go on. Regional imbalance must be addressed. In the past number of weeks, we saw the example of the regional hospital in Galway and the department where all procedures had to be cancelled because a roof fell in. Anyone who has visited the regional hospital in Galway knows that staff are doing Trojan work but the infrastructure is falling around them and is not fit for purpose. Again, we see the opportunities relating to Ireland West Airport Knock that are lost without proper investment in the airport. Broadband is another example. We can see the jobs and opportunities for the west of Ireland that are lost. Roads are a further example. I know there was an announcement of more LIS funding for roads at the National Ploughing Championships but when one breaks that down, it breaks down to about two roads for every councillor in a 100-mile radius. The extension of the greenways is another example. Capital investment is needed in all these areas to generate jobs and regenerate our rural economy. The negative consequences of the "start-stop" approach to many infrastructure projects are not the way forward - things being announced, re-announced and re-announced. The people in rural Ireland and Ireland as a whole are fed up waiting for vital infrastructure. It should be provided for under this plan.