Pádraig Ó Céidigh (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I had not planned to do so, but I would be delighted to do so.

I welcome the Minister of State. Tá fáilte roimhe. Labhróidh mé i mBéarla cé go bhfuil mé níos compordaí, b'fhéidir, ag labhairt i nGaeilge.

First, we must look at where we have come from, as Senator Kieran O'Donnell said. We have come from a situation where a few years ago we had a 14.5% unemployment rate. It now stands at around 6%, which represents a very significant improvement. We are, therefore, very close to full employment. It is said an unemployment rate of around 4% or thereabouts represents full employment.

The books are reasonably well balanced again. Therefore, where do we go from here? The economic reports I have read and the economists to whom I listen, although sometimes we should not listen to as many as we do, are urging caution. We, therefore, need to be careful and must be prudent about capital expenditure, to which there are two parts - revenue and capital. During my time as Chairman of the Oireachtas Committee on the Future Funding of Domestic Water Services the big issue was on and off-balance sheet expenditure. I learned an awful lot about the public finances, although I would have known a little about private investment and business. Off-balance sheet expenditure is really important and very significant. If we can create a situation where a lot of our capital expenditure is paid for or supported by off-balance sheet funding, it will support a lot of the capital expenditure about which my colleagues have spoken on hospitals in Galway and the Limerick to Cork and Limerick to Galway roads, projects I strongly support. As capital expenditure is a long-term investment, I urge prudence in that regard.

Another important factor to bear in mind is that EU regulations stipulate the degree of flexibility we have in any budget which is based on income. It is a multiple of the revenue the Exchequer receives. I ask the Minister of State to correct me if I am wrong, but I understand the position in 2018 will be pretty tight from a budgetary perspective. Things will loosen again in 2019 because we will be working with a greater revenue cash flow from the Exchequer's perspective. Again, I caution the Government not to spend money we do not have and not to spend money that will be on-balance sheet. We should try to work off-balance sheet to a proper ratio or degree.

In the context of the mid-term capital review, I live in Spiddal in Connemara. It can take me an hour and a half to travel about five miles from Spiddal to Galway racecourse, from where I can get to the M50 in the same amount of time. The roads in Galway are absolutely killing the people and the local economy. If we had a good hospital, that would be fine, but we cannot get to it on time. A very good friend of mine from Oranmore died recently of a heart attack. If it had happened at 4 p.m. rather than at 4 a.m., it would have taken an hour and a half to get him to the hospital. Access is absolutely critical. I, therefore, urge the Minister of State to look at providing an outer bypass in Galway and to do whatever he can to get that project moving. It would also support Senator Kieran O'Donnell's very well made point about the western corridor to join Cork, Limerick and Galway and, I hope, places further north such as Ballina and Sligo.