Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Amendment No. 6 would require that prior to any shareholder letter of expectation being issued that it would be laid before both Houses of the Oireachtas. This is important from the point of view of public transparency and accountability and given the context that shareholder letters to other semi-State bodies such as Coillte and Bord na Móna, have shown very little regard for climate and biodiversity and have opted for the prioritisation of profit. The Minister of State is aware that value for money is quite a wide piece. It is often about the longer term and the medium term and not just the short term. Value for money is relevant in terms of the implications if we fail to meet our climate targets or social targets. These are all issues that can impact on what is actually value for money for the State. Again, rather than simply focusing on value for money or indeed the many other targets which we claim to have in, for example, our climate legislation and in regard to some of the other social targets affected, the shareholder letters sent by Government Ministers have prioritised not just profit but cash generation.

A letter of expectation issued to Coillte in 2022 stated that the very first expectation is that the company should be profitable and cash generative, maintaining financial policies and capital structures, and taking account of future obligations, including pensions, that facilitate the payment of dividends to shareholders, and maintain a level of headroom to have sufficient liquidity and financial flexibility to protect loan covenant requirements. Again, the reference is to cash in the short term and delivering money. This is an example. Coillte does not deliver very much cash. It does not deliver an awful lot of money for the State, but the short-term delivery of money is taking priority over the long-term transformation that we need in an area like forestry and over something, for example, that would deliver far more value for money if we looked to shifting what the European Union in the past has called some of our new approaches to forestry - business as usual. If we look to what is happening in terms of forestry and our rivers in Ireland or where the same mistakes are getting made again and again, the rationale always goes back to the mandate that the organisation has. Accompanying that, the shareholders, including the State itself, are driving against long-term thinking and investment in a sustainable future. What the State is saying to these bodies is that it wants short-term thinking and dividends. We must bear in mind that these bodies do not come under the climate Act. Purely public bodies have obligations in terms of delivering under the climate Act but these organisations are often in this in-between space where they are not covered by the same sections in the climate Act but, overall, the State is. We are almost having a parallel conversation, which is usually not even in the public realm. This is information we have had to access through freedom of information requests.These amendments suggest that the letter of expectation the Government sends to these bodies, which play a significant role, should be a matter of public notice. It should be published and we should be aware of it. Significant matters of prioritisation of policy, value and goals take place in the conversation that a Minister, as a shareholder, has with these semi-State bodies. That should be a matter of public record and the subject of proper discussion within the Oireachtas. Amendment No. 6 would require that the shareholder letter of expectation be laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas and, if something is being done on behalf of the public, public representatives would have the opportunity to engage with and discuss that matter.

Amendment No. 7 provides that the majority-shareholding Minister would, prior to issuing the shareholder letter of expectation to Gas Networks Ireland, lay the letter before the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach, and the Committee of Public Accounts. This is around strengthening accountability and transparency at the finance committee, of which I am a member. We place great emphasis on the importance of transparency in respect of stocks, shares, ethical practices, investments and divestments and so forth, so it is reasonable that the State as shareholder would agree to transparency and scrutiny of its actions by the finance committee. I would be open to an alternative committee being suggested to carry out scrutiny but, as this is Report Stage, there may not be an opportunity to make such a provision.

The key point in both these amendments, however, is that the Government is elected by the public. It produces the programme for Government and has its agendas and there is much discussion on matters such as the environment and biodiversity. It is appropriate, therefore, that every action the Government takes by virtue of the people of Ireland having given its members a role as their representatives would be subject to proper scrutiny and transparency in order that we can see whether it is consistent with the principles and messages being espoused in public.