asked the Minister for Finance to what extent the programme outlined in the Investment Plan 1981 is now being implemented.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Investment Plan 1981.
1.
Implementation of the various programmes provided for in the Investment Plan 1981 is under way.
Comprehensive arrangements have been made for monitoring progress with the implementation of the plan. Departments having responsibility for overseeing the different programmes have been asked to provide my Department with quarterly profiles of plan implementation, with special reference to jobs provided. Progress on the ground, as well as actual expenditure and employment, will be monitored by reference to these profiles, so that corrective action can be taken where a departure from plan might otherwise occur. The first comprehensive review of the different aspects of plan implementation is not yet completed, but the Exchequer returns for capital expenditure indicate that the plan is on course.
Could the Minister please speak up? I did not catch one word that the Minister said.
I have heard nothing of what the Minister said. He is muttering.
I am sorry, Deputy. I did not intend that.
I withdraw my application, so.
Implementation of the various programmes provided for in the Investment Plan 1981 is under way.
Comprehensive arrangements have been made for monitoring progress with the implementation of the plan. Departments having responsibility for overseeing the different programmes have been asked to provide my Department with quarterly profiles of plan implementation, with special reference to jobs provided. Progress on the ground, as well as actual expenditure and employment, will be monitored by reference to these profiles, so that corrective action can be taken where a departure from plan might otherwise occur. The first comprehensive review of the different aspects of plan implementation is not yet completed, but the Exchequer returns for capital expenditure indicate that the plan is on course.
Is it not correct to say that this plan was issued by the Government contemporaneously, or more or less so, with the budget at the end of January and has not more than a quarter of a year gone by since then? Where is the quarterly report for the first three months of this investment plan?
I have explained to the Deputy that the expenditure is on target. Perhaps I should further explain what has been decided, that, first of all, we have a Cabinet sub-committee. To provide the necessary information for that committee, my Department have arranged, through the planning units in all the various Departments responsible for overseeing the various projects in the plan, that quarterly reports should be furnished showing the plan progress for each quarter of the year and the main capital projects set out in the plan. An expenditure and employment creation profile for each quarter will also be provided. Actual physical progress on each of these projects for each quarter of the year will be provided in due course, together with actual job expenditure and job creation figures.
Does the Minister think that that is an answer to my question? Why, with more than three months gone by since the publication of this plan, has no quarterly profile yet been provided?
The quarterly profile to which the Deputy refers is at present being prepared.
Could I concentrate, for a couple more questions, on just one aspect of this investment plan, namely the private sector participation aspect? Could the Minister tell us, between three and four months after the publication of this plan, how many definite projects have been undertaken by the private sector as part of his £200 million target, projects which now can be described as having a legally binding quality, and for what sum of money?
While this is a separate question——
It is part of the investment programme.
It is not part of the investment plan. The investment plan is a physical plan on the ground.
I beg your pardon, it is at paragraphs 267 and 268.
We do not want a debate on this subject.
It is part of the funding of the plan and is an entirely separate question. I did recently explain how approximately £150 million of that £200 million was being covered.
I am sorry?
I did recently explain how £150 million of that £200 million was being expended.
Could I just get this point clear? Is the Minister saying that he has commitments, in the context of his budget target, of a legally binding quality from the private sector for sums totalling £150 million?
I explained how £150 million of that money was being allocated. If the Deputy wishes to put down a specific question, he may do so.
But, Sir——
We cannot keep on debating this. Deputy FitzGerald.
Could I ask just one question?
Are we going to allow one question to be debated here all day?
Will those quarterly reports be published?
I will make them available to any Deputy of the House who wishes.
The Minister can take it that this Deputy would like to have them, for a start anyway. Secondly, could the Minister explain how the statement about being on target as regards progress is to be reconciled with the statement, to which I referred yesterday, by the Construction Industry Federation that they cannot trace new orders being made, that a large part of their workforce are already out of work and no new work is coming from public sources? How does the Minister reconcile his statement with that statement from the people who would be actually involved in constructing things, if anything were being constructed?
I repeat that from a financial expenditure point of view the plan is on target. Yes, the Deputy yesterday did push me. Let me say that I have no basis for the statements of Deputy FitzGerald and I had no prior notice. A specific reference was made to the building industry yesterday. Cement sales are always regarded as useful indicators of trends in the building industry, and cement sales have risen in each of the last two quarters, which suggests that recovery in building work is already well under way.
Question No. 2.
My question related to orders for new public works——
I said yesterday——
——which have not come through, despite the Minister's attempt to indicate that they have.
I do not accept that that is the position, nor did I yesterday, nor will I tomorrow. On 31 March——
I still have no reply to the specific question I asked. Have the private sector committed, in a legally binding way, £150 million?
Ceist 2.
The answer is no, and I hope the Minister does not seriously deny that. We propose to say that.
You may say it and I will be able to contradict it. On 31 March——
(Interruptions.)