Michael McDowell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am sharing time with Senator Boyhan. The summer economic statement is, as Senator Horkan said, challenging in some respects and reassuring in others. As the statement notes, the economy is in a remarkably better condition than it was a number of years ago after the financial crash. There are, however, some fundamental underlying problems, such as the indebtedness per head of the Irish population, which is at a high level internationally.

While the Minister of State spoke about the economy being effectively close to full employment, there are ambitious infrastructural plans outlined to the Irish people for the next 20 to 30 years, including some which are needed in the short run rather than the long run. For instance, if one looks at the plans and figures for social and affordable housing, although public housing is a better phrase to describe it, the suggestion is that 20,000 extra construction workers would be required for that and we do not have them as far as I can see. Likewise, people are talking about a massive programme of rehabilitation of our existing housing stock. An extra 20,000 people would be required for that according to some of its proponents. I do not see where those 40,000 people will come from.

We face real constraints. If we are to hit our environmental targets, we have to address issues such as public transport, for example, an increased use of rail, and a reconfiguration of our cities. I put on record again my strong belief that our urban development patterns must radically change and that we must be willing to build higher and more centralised cities. We cannot have people commuting for two or three hours, even if they are commuting in electric cars, in ten or 15 years' time. We still cannot afford to have that waste in our environmental spatial strategies.

Another matter I emphasise is that it behoves all politicians, from all sides of the ideological and party spectrums, to respect the fact that we must contain public spending within reasonable limits.We cannot let the controls slip from us, especially now, as we approach the end of the confidence and supply agreement, to which Senator Horkan referred, and possibly the end of an electoral cycle. It is vitally important that a spending spree is not promised in the same abandoned way as in the UK, for example, where Boris Johnson is making extravagant promises on taxation, and repatriating £39 billion, to the British electorate. We must have a responsible electoral cycle, and everything has to be constantly subject to reality checks and the constraints on our economy. I fully agree with the Government's position that the possibility of a disorderly Brexit requires a huge conditionality to be attached to our budgetary strategy over the next couple of months. Like everybody else, I hope the UK will have a negotiated, orderly exit from the European Union, if it insists on leaving. We have to be very clear that a disorderly, unilateral, no-deal exit would have profound effects on our budgetary situation, and I commend the Minister and the Government on their determination to make provisional arrangements in their budgetary planning to deal with that scenario, should it emerge. As somebody said many years ago, "A lot done, a lot more to do", and-----