Deputy Stagg was in possession and he was sharing his time with Deputies Howlin and Shortall.
Book of Estimates, 1998: Statements (Resumed).
Acting Chairman
I will deal with one of the largest expenditure areas. If the Minister for Education stays in the House he will be glad to note that I will focus legitimately on next year's expenditure and he might take note of the questions I will pose. I note it is the habit of members of the Government not to provide answers to questions but to hector Opposition Deputies on the wonderful service they have provided to date. However, there is little evidence of that in any area. In less than 48 hours two Ministers have told us how wonderful they are, but there is scant evidence of practical results.
Time does not permit me to deal with all the aspects of an Estimate of more than £1 billion for the environment and local government. We will have an opportunity to deal with the Estimates in detail in a special committee next year, but I want to address two areas in particular, local government funding and the funding of non-national roads, and one or two minor areas of which I hope the Minister will take note. Local government funding has been one of the most difficult, talked about and essential political issues of recent decades. All the parties in this House over a number of years have paid lip service to their commitment to reinvigorate local government and to give real power to local authorities to enable them shape their local areas and to provide them not only with the structures and mechanisms to do that but with an adequate funding base. In my time in the Department of the Environment I worked hard to fulfil that objective. We produced what is colloquially known as the purple book, a comprehensive review programme for local government.
Thankfully and appropriately most of the contents of the book have been accepted by the new Administration. However, there is still total confusion about local government funding. I tabled specific questions to the Minister for the Environment and Local Government about this matter yesterday. He blustered for months about the marvellous reform package he intended to introduce, which included a new local government fund and a percentage of national taxation devoted exclusively to the local government system. The Minister spoke disparagingly about the plans I introduced which were enacted by the Houses of the Oireachtas to fund local government through a ringfenced system of motor taxation.
The Minister told the House yesterday that his plans have run aground and the Bill which was promised before Christmas will not arrive before Santa Claus. It will not arrive before Santa Claus next year either because the revised date for the enactment of the legislation is 1 January 1999. That will be a crowded year given the increasing number of reports and surveys which are being put on the long finger by the Government. There is no sense of longevity about the Government. It obviously thinks it can clear the decks for next year and leave all the thorny issues for the new Administration in 1999.
It is incumbent on the Minister to explain in detail how local government will be funded next year. A ringfenced pool of money is available under the Local Government (Financial Provisions) Act, 1997. However, local authorities have not yet been told how much they will receive. Individual authorities do not know if the equalisation mechanism I established in that Act will be implemented because the Minister has promised to repeal the legislation. Local government is expected to strike a rate and figure out its works programme for next year in complete darkness. This is unacceptable. If there is any respect for the local government system, a clear funding mechanism should be outlined. This should be a fair system which will enable every local authority to know exactly where it stands for the next 12 months.
I ask the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Martin, to refer three basic questions to the Minister for the Environment and Local Government. How much, specifically, will each local authority receive? When will the dividend from the ringfenced motor taxation fund be distributed? What mechanisms will be put in place for equalisation?
When I was Minister for the Environment I established a non-national roads restoration fund because the crisis in terms of rural dwellers and potholed roads has become a depressing cliché for anybody who must traverse them. In the last two years the huge sum of approximately £220 million between State grants and local authority moneys was earmarked for this area. Will the Minister for the Environment and Local Government assure the House that this fund will be retained and allocated in plenty of time to ensure repair work on flood damaged roads can begin? There are many such roads at present, particularly in the sunny south-east where routes have taken a battering since August. The south-east is flooded again today and the damage caused by the water on national and non-national roads needs to be addressed by a special fund. I ask the Minister for Science and Technology, Deputy Martin, to bring to the attention of the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the need to set aside an emergency fund to repair the damage caused by flood waters and other natural disasters.
I note with amusement that the allocation in the Book of Estimates under administration for consultancy services will increase by 54 per cent next year. When the Minister for the Environment and Local Government was in Opposition he lambasted anybody who had an adviser or consultant of any description. He thought the then Government was outlandish in its expenditure on consultants. However, the Estimates show a proposed increase of 4 per cent for general administration and that consultancy fees for the Minister will increase by 54 per cent. The Minister for the Environment and Local Government, Deputy Dempsey, and the other Fianna Fáil and Progressive Democrats office holders have changed their attitudes remarkably since they went into Government.
The issue of fire services is most important. Alarm bells rang at a recent conference of fire service chiefs regarding the decrepit state of some of the fire appliances. The Estimates show a proposed increase next year of 8 per cent and I ask the Minister to reconsider the allocation to the fire services in the context of the budget. A significant capital injection is required because although money has been spent on fire stations, appliances have not been brought up to standard. Local authorities are increasingly buying second-hand appliances, which are almost clapped out, from abroad.
Not in Cork.
This matter needs to be addressed and I hope the Minister will take it on board.
The Cinderella area of library services is most important. The Minister for Education and Science has a specific regard for this sector which is funded entirely by the national lottery. Only £3 million will be available next year in support of the capital works for library services in every county. There are huge demands for refurbishment works on libraries throughout the country, not just in the Dublin hinterland where there is a crying need. It is a priority area in which national lottery money could be spent. I hope the Minister will bring my remarks to the attention of the Minister for the Environment and Local Government.
I wish to deal with the Estimates relating to the Department of Health and Children which must be viewed in the context of a number of different factors. First, the level of expenditure on health and childcare services in Ireland is low relative to the quality of services our European neighbours enjoy. Much catching up needs to be done to bring our services up to a level comparable to that in other European countries. Second, there is a growing expectation on the public's part of a greater range of better quality services because of our economic prosperity. Whatever about other harder times, at this point the public does not accept there is any excuse for inadequacies in health services.
Third, there is real growth in the demand for drug treatment, childcare and family support services and, most spectacularly, for services for the elderly because it is becoming the norm for people to live well into their eighties and even into their nineties. A fourth important factor in relation to health expenditure is the significant level of inflation in healthcare. This is probably about 3 percentage points ahead of general inflation levels. The fifth factor is that the Estimates do not take account of the significant growth in population in some parts of the country, particularly the Eastern Health Board region.
In this context the proposed expenditure is disappointing. While on the surface a 6 per cent increase in the allocation to health boards may appear reasonable, there are already a number of different expenditure commitments, particularly the pay increases which are already agreed. Such commitments will eat significantly into that increase. For example, the impact of the full year cost of the Partnership 2000 agreement must be considered because it will account for at least 1 per cent of the 6 per cent increase. In addition, other pay increases are expected to be awarded in the health services and these will eat further into the increase. Health boards have not yet been informed of their full allocation for 1998. I hope the increase will be based on the full year costs. If that is not the case, it will involve a further reduction in the proposed increase. All this means there will be little scope for the much needed expansion of many health services.
I draw attention to what I believe are the priority areas for spending in the coming year. We are familiar with the searing service pressures in many acute hospitals and there is an urgent need to proceed with a major waiting list initiative in this area. Sadly, this is a life and death issue for many people because waiting lists are growing and this has a negative impact on the quality of life for thousands of people. The need to increase the number of downstream facilities for the elderly and young chronic disabled is related to this. In addition, there is an urgent and chronic need for extra places in the mental handicapped services and for the physically disabled. The outstanding deficits in funding levels for voluntary agencies should be addressed. Services for people who are currently inappropriately placed should be developed, in particular, the several hundred patients in St. Ita's, Portrane, whose plight was highlighted recently in the media and which is a cause for concern and embarrassment to all involved in policy and decision making. The situation there is a disgrace and needs urgent attention so that appropriate facilities can be provided for patients.
There is also a need for additional funding to meet the continuing demands for child care services which are growing in many health board areas. A strong case can be made as the return on expenditure in this area is far greater than the huge expenditure in the proposed prison programme. There is an undoubted case for early intervention and prevention services in order to avoid problems later in life in terms of involvement in crime, drug abuse and so on.
There is a necessity to significantly increase services for drug users to deal with addiction and special care problems associated with the misuse of drugs. There must be a continued development of mental health services in the community and hospitals. The change from institutional based care to the community requires beefing up in terms of providing the necessary community based services. A great number of existing facilities are in urgent need of upgrading and new services and facilities are required in urban regions.
It is essential the need to upgrade and modernise existing services in hospitals and health care services is borne in mind.
I wish to share my time with Deputy Killeen.
Acting Chairman
Is that agreed? Agreed.
I will outline the principal features of our economic performance since 1977. Gross national product growth has averaged 5 per cent over that period and is twice the European Union average. Employment increased by an average of 1.7 per cent per year compared to 0.3 per cent in the EU and 1 per cent in the OECD. Unemployment has fallen from 18 per cent in 1987 to a projected figure of 10.25 per cent for 1997 whereas it has increased in the EU and OECD. Inflation has averaged 2.7 per cent compared with an average of 3.9 per cent in the EU and the OECD average of 4.8 per cent. Our strong economic performance was underpinned by disciplined fiscal policies.
Since 1987 the general Government deficit has been reduced from 8.6 per cent of GDP to 1.5 per cent this year and the general Government debt/GDP ratio was 116 per cent in 1987, 76 per cent in 1996 and is projected at 70 per cent in 1997. During those years the Programme for National Recovery, PESP and PCW were negotiated by Fianna Fáil led Governments and a broad policy stance since 1987 is bearing fruit in spectacular fashion in an interdependent combination of moderate price and wage inflation, improvements in take home pay, budgetary credibility and maximum stability in currency. It was always clear that the full benefits of this integrated policy to which social partnership has been crucial would take time to feed through.
Our patience has now been rewarded and this is evident in our recent employment growth. A crucial element in the fruits of growth has been significantly increased employment. It is estimated it will increase by 52,000 in 1997 and this is having an impact on unemployment. The 1997 Labour Force Survey shows there was a fall of 20,000 in unemployment in the 12 months to April 1997 and it is encouraging that long-term unemployment is falling faster than short-term unemployment. Since 1993 there has been a drop of 39,000 in long-term unemployed, two thirds of the fall in unemployment over that period.
As a result of the national programmes there has been a significant benefit in regard to take home pay from 1987-88 to 1996-97. The average tax rate for a single person in 1987-88 was 36 per cent and it was 26 per cent for a married couple with two children. In 1996-97 the average tax rate for a single person is less than 29 per cent and is 22 per cent for a married couple with two children. The tax wedge for a single person in 1987-98 was 43 per cent and 34 per cent for a married couple with two children. The equivalent in 1996-97 for a single person is 36 per cent and 30 per cent for a married couple with two children. The take home pay increase for those years for a single person was a nominal rate of 55 per cent and a real increase of 23 per cent and for a married couple with two children a nominal increase of 48 per cent and a real increase of 17 per cent. These are the results of the policies, decisions and controls which were started in 1987.
A further aim of the budgets since then has been to encourage the development of enterprise in order to generate employment. Measures to this end have included a low rate of employer's PRSI which was introduced at 9 per cent for low wage employees and reduced further to 8.5 per cent which applied to people with an income threshold between £173 and £250. The primary rate of employer's PRSI was also reduced from 12.2 per cent to 12 per cent while the standard rate of corporation tax was reduced from 40 per cent to 38 per cent to 36 per cent and in regard to the first £50,000 profit from 30 per cent on 1 April 1996 to 28 per cent in 1997. These reductions have been achieved while facilitating increases in social services expenditures which is every bit as important as straightening the economy. We must also ensure those dependent on social services get the benefit of growth and improvement in the economy. Members of the Opposition criticised the Government's expenditure policies. Prior to the election we said that we would control public expenditure and indicated how we would do so over the next five years, and the people voted us into Government. In our programme for Government we stated that we would limit growth in net current expenditure to 4 per cent. On the basis of the figures in the abridged Estimates, the total increase in current and capital expenditure in 1998 over 1997 is 3.5 per cent. We are keeping our promise made prior to the election, because it is essential that budgetary policy remain on track, that consensus remain strong and that significant investment be made to support future development. We must continue in that vein to ensure continued growth, employment, reductions in taxation, jobs for our young people leaving universities, institutes and regional technical colleges and the possibility of a return to the workplace for those who are long-term unemployed.
I agree with the Minister, Deputy McCreevy, when he said that if the Government's expenditure plans did not strike the right balance between the requirements of budgetary policy and the need to meet social and economic priorities, it would be all the more difficult to sustain and maintain the progress of recent years. The policies being pursued by the Government are aimed at maintaining and sustaining the progress commenced when we were in Government in 1987 and brought the country out of the morass in which it then was.
In May 1997 the Minister of State at the Department of Education at the time committed up to £9 million for sport from lottery funding, money he did not have and had no chance of getting for the next couple of years. That was political opportunism at its worst on the part of a Minister and a Government that long preached righteousness to the rest of us. Because this money is not available, people looking for grant aid for various projects will not be able to avail of them in the foreseeable future.
I welcome the increased funding for rural environmental protection. The REPS is a very important programme for environmental protection. It has been taken up substantially by farmers and will be more so in the years ahead. It is an important aid to farmers in carrying out works to ensure that the environment is treated in a proper manner.
The Leader programme has also been helpful in increasing local employment. The Minister has seen fit to increase the allocation to the Leader programme and I welcome that.
I would like the Minister for Finance to look at the special resort tax scheme. Some of the areas that stand to benefit will be in trouble if the scheme is abolished at the end of next year because they had problems with planning permission and getting their schemes off the ground. This scheme has enlivened many towns that are availing of it, but the full benefit cannot be obtained. It is therefore important that the Minister examine it in the coming months.
Housing is of great importance, and there has been progress in that area in recent years. I am glad the Minister has increased the allocation by almost 14 per cent in the Estimates. There is a great demand for housing in my constituency and it is important to provide suitable accommodation for all our people, for married couples, single parents and the elderly. I welcome the Minister's decision to put significant funding into housing over the next year.
The Minister for Finance, Deputy McCreevy, faces a difficult challenge in putting together the Estimate for 1988 in that he must control public expenditure while simultaneously the public want to feel the benefits of the Celtic tiger. Everybody wants to ensure a fair distribution of largesse and an attempt to help the less well off. No system has been perfectly successful in that regard. Perhaps none ever will be. Nevertheless it is important that we continue to aspire to ensuring as much fair play as possible.
It is interesting that the country will manage about 7 per cent growth in 1997 against a backdrop of inflation of less than 2 per cent. That would have seemed impossible ten years ago. It proves that prudence in fiscal matters has had a payoff for the State.
There are also encouraging figures on the labour force front, although they do not get much attention or praise from the media. For example, the labour force will increase by 37,000. Simultaneously jobs will increase by 52,000, which is 4 per cent. The number of long-term unemployed will drop by 17,000 in 1997. If that could be sustained over a number of years, it would be a superb performance. Since 1993 the number of long-term unemployed has dropped by 39,000, on average 10,000 a year. That is not a bad performance. It is ironic that the success of the economy is driving up demands. We all have our own pet projects for which we want funding, and the Minister has a difficult job trying to juggle them together. In these circumstances proposals for such projects as the proposed new Oireachtas building which was announced recently get negative publicity and are set against the need for capital allocation, to health, education etc.
The arts programme which has been given an increase to complete what is required in the programme is also getting negative media responses in the context of other needs. That is patently unfair and unjustified, and we should be prepared to stand up and be counted when it comes to such necessary expenditure.
It is interesting that the new budget date has forced people to come up with these Estimates within an impossible timetable. Nevertheless, it has been achieved. This will make it easier for Departments and agencies to live within their budgets. I am glad the Minister remains committed to multi-annual budgeting. Although there is no reference to it, emphasis is placed on ensuring value for money within certain Departments.
The estimated outturn for l997 and the capital expenditure figures are very encouraging, with an overrun of £42 million compared to an estimate of £1,576 million. This is better than most people anticipated. The level of expenditure on current supply services is not outrageous.
I referred previously to the need to improve the accommodation available in the Houses of the Oireachtas. Members must recognise that the job we do in the Houses of Parliament costs money. Deputies and Senators have been too apologetic about the finance required to provide the necessary accommodation which will enable them to do their job properly. Many people do not know that some Members have to cross the road to get to their offices. Apart from the traffic problems, it can be difficult for Members to pass the many groups who protest outside the Kildare Street gates. There is no reason the national parliament in a democratic state should not make a reasonable attempt to accommodate its Members on campus.
The nature and extent of the workload of Members has changed dramatically even during my five years as a Deputy. The level of secretarial back-up available to most Members is totally inadequate. As a result people have to work under stress. I do not suppose the public will be too sympathetic about this. The inadequacies also have a detrimental effect on the quality of work carried out by elected Members of Parliament on behalf of their constituents and the nation. Members cannot carry out their job properly in the present conditions. This applies to equipment etc.
(Mayo): I welcome the opportunity to refer to the Estimate for the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. One of the major blunders by the Government in setting up its ministries was to put the Department for Equality and Law Reform under the umbrella of the Department of Justice. Of all the success stories of the previous Administration, the work carried out by Mervyn Taylor as Minister for Equality and Law Reform was unique. He was a pioneer in his own right. He had an agenda and he followed it. All one has to do is look at the raft of reforming legislation introduced by him to see that he broke new ground and achieved a tremendous amount in areas where there had been no previous political involvement. However, this was only the beginning.
I am concerned that equality and law reform issues will become the Cinderella of the Department of Justice and that the issues pioneered by Mervyn Taylor will be lost. I am also concerned that the reforming zeal left in the battered Minister for Justice will be thwarted by the almost natural constrictive and restrictive attitude of officials in the Department of Justice. This is a totally unnatural marriage. The Taoiseach should look at what happened to the dynamism of Mervyn Taylor and the various projects launched by him and rethink this amalgamation. There is a clear differentiation between justice and equality and reform issues. They are unnatural bed partners from the point of view of what should be the reforming zeal of the Minister.
It is a difficult task to be Minister for Justice. One needs leadership, management skills, vision and determination. Where is all the reforming zeal which characterised the Minister for Justice when he was in Opposition? Unfortunately he has become bogged down in officialdom and seems to have lost sight of many of the issues he pioneered and championed in Opposition.
This has been rightly so in the case of some issues. For example, zero tolerance was undoubtedly a cliché. If clichés could solve crime then the problem would have been solved long ago. This was a handy cliché to use when trying to strike a chord with the electorate during the general election. From the time of his appointment to the end of the summer when he said he was devoting his time to the preparation of the toothless Criminal Justice Bill, nothing was heard from the Minister on zero tolerance. When he finally emerged from hiding the concept of zero tolerance was watered down and related only to drugs. However, there has never been any tolerance of drugs. The Minister has not introduced any new legislation. He inherited all his legislative measures from the previous Minister, Deputy Owen, for example, the Prisons Bill, the Courts Bill, the Juvenile Justice Bill and the Children Bill.
I welcome some initiatives, for example, the witness protection programme. However, the Government should listen to the pleas by the Garda Síochána for more money for this programme. Those who watched "Prime Time" last night will have been struck by the dramatic increase in domestic violence. Yet a mere £1,000 has been provided in the Estimates to deal with this problem. There was no point in enacting the domestic violence Act if we do not provide the resources to implement it.
While I welcome the allocation of £250,000 for research in the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, it is not nearly enough. When considered in the context of a budget of £1 billion it is negligible. We must look at the causes of crime and try to ascertain what turns a ten year old child into a hardened criminal while he is still at primary school. We should look at the worthwhile study commissioned by the Home Office in Britain following the death of Jamie Bulger. This study, entitled "The Effects of Video Violence on Young Offenders", examined aggressive behaviour and whether violent videos have an effect on people. It examined the effects immediately after the film and after three months, six months and nine months. It found that there was a link between violent videos and aggressive behaviour and that violent videos tend to make aggressive people more aggressive and violent people more violent.
There was a reference earlier today to the Refugee Act. The Minister should decide whether to implement the Act with the exclusion of the section before the courts or to face up to our international obligations and introduce a new Bill. It is clear the Minister favours introducing a new Bill. He told the United Nations, UNHCR, Amnesty International and The Irish Times that this was his intention. Yet there was total confusion about the issue in the House today. I wish to share my time with Deputies Frances Fitzgerald, Allen and Gormley.
I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate. Our booming economy raises certain key questions which mainly centre on how we use the massive resources currently available to us. There is no doubt there is a unique opportunity to tackle serious problems in society. There are huge displays of wealth and the creation of new jobs, to be questioned on the one hand and welcomed on the other. It is extraordinary that, while the depth of poverty is not as great as heretofore, there are more people living in poverty today than ever before. That must cause us to reflect seriously on how we use the massive resources available.
It is also extraordinary that, while we hear of the numbers of children playing truant in an area of Dublin, as we reach the end of the 1990s there is no basic school psychological service to detect problems at an early stage. Breast and cervical cancer screening services are not routinely available to women, and that is a national disgrace. A serious commitment is needed if we are to tackle long-term unemployment. There are also emerging needs — for example, the refugee organisations must be funded if we are to meet our international obligations to refugees and asylum seekers and offer them legal aid. Those needs will not be met unless there is a critical examination of programmes already in place. I regret the Minister for Finance has not critically examined such programmes, which would be of assistance in meeting the needs.
Another issue that must be tackled is the drugs problem. It is extraordinary there is no increased funding in this area. There is only a 1 per cent increase in the health budget, most of which will go towards pay, while problems in screening and in casualty departments will not be tackled. The need for new places for people with a mental handicap will not be met, nor will the problem of homelessness if the programmes already in place are not examined and new plans implemented. There is insufficient planning and innovation in the Estimates.
One of the key issues in the Defence Vote is compensation for deafness. Claims have increased from 1,000 a couple of years ago to more than 10,000 creating a huge demand on the Exchequer. There are questions about how this matter should be dealt with. Whether we should move from the present court adversarial system to a tribunal must be critically examined by the Government, and the Minister must report to the House as soon as possible. The allocation of money and its impact on the Defence Vote will have to be examined. If the issue is not addressed, the Minister may not be in a position to meet the demands of the forces.
A sum of £48 million is provided in the Defence budget this year. Apart from the compensation provision, there is an increase of only 2 per cent to deal with the many and varied demands that arise under this Vote. This is a time of enormous change in the Defence area. Army training must be considered. The Army plays an increasing role in peacekeeping duties and that impacts on the development of democracy in other countries. The Army must be resourced to do its job properly. A decrease in the level of communications and information technology available to the Army is unacceptable. A 2 per cent increase in the Defence Vote does not allow for the support needed by the Naval Service to deal with the problem of drugs imported by sea.
I do not have time to deal with other matters I wished to raise, but I will have an opportunity to do so when the budget is presented.
The expectations raised in terms of increased resources for sport by the appointment of a senior Minister with responsibility for sport were cruelly dashed with the provision of a 4 per cent increase for sports and recreation. Despite the presence of the Minister, Deputy McDaid, at the Cabinet table, he failed to get the resources promised by Fianna Fáil in its pre-election programme. The Minister came to office when, for the first time ever, there was a national plan for sport and he could have used that plan to gain the necessary resources. I ask him to ensure a major financial package is provided in the forthcoming budget for sport and recreation.
To take up the comments on crime, made by my colleague, Deputy Jim Higgins, on crime, sport and recreation are the greatest preventative elements in the fight against crime and drugs abuse. Investment in sport and recreation would reduce the need for investment in prisons and in the health service. I am disappointed there is no increase in the allocation for the programme established by the previous Administration in response to the ministerial task force on drugs. We heard nothing from the Minister about the need for a national drugs testing programme in sport. He simply said he would extend proposals to take into account analysis of blood samples from athletes. He did not refer to the promised statutory sports council. The Minister has many questions to answer next week during Question Time. I will wait and see what provision will be made in the budget in this regard.
On RTE's plans to scrap the Saturday programme, "Sports Stadium", the Minister and the Taoiseach should immediately inform RTE that it cannot surrender the sporting airwaves to Sky Sports and other channels. Many sporting events will not be shown on television if "Sports Stadium" is discontinued. There is a responsibility on RTE and the Government to ensure this popular programme is not scrapped in December, as is planned by RTE.
On tourism, the Minister should consider the questions that will arise after 1999 when the moneys under the operational programme terminate. Will he give details of the mid-term review of the operational programme? I hope during Question Time next week he will make a statement on that review. On tourism, there is need for quality control and control of commercial accommodation. Our environment is one of our greatest assets in selling tourism abroad. If we travel the waterways, country lanes and roadways we will see the negative impact of modern day living on our environment. There has been a failure by the Department of the Environment and Local Government and the Department of Tourism, Sport and Recreation to deal with this issue. Before long this country will be considered expensive and without a clean environment.
The Minister must address the imbalance in the growth of tourism between the east coast and the rest of the country. The withdrawal of the CorkRoscoff ferry in the past few days means thousands of tourists will have to find another route. Will the Minister take up this issue with Irish Ferries?
The international marketing manager of Bord Fáilte resigned recently. The Little report of 1994 recommended that Bord Fáilte should have an international marketing director to introduce new marketing measures abroad. Will it ensure the man who resigned is replaced so that the emphasis on international marketing is not eroded?
I thank Deputy Higgins for sharing time with me. He correctly asked the Minister when the Refugee Act will be fully implemented. We are getting confusing signals from the Government in this regard. The Taoiseach promised it will be fully implemented, but we also heard Deputy Callely's racist remarks. His cheap publicity stunt is simply incitement to hatred. Will the Government re-examine the Estimates in the context of Deputy Fitzgerald's point? When does the Government intend to fund organisations dealing with asylum seekers?
The Government kept its promise to introduce a Book of Estimates with an increase in current expenditure of not more than 4 per cent. It did this by moving the goal posts and introducing a series of Supplementary Estimates, without which we would have had an increase in expenditure of 6.5 per cent. Apparently the Progressive Democrats approve of this accountancy wizardry and have abandoned their core value of fiscal rectitude. The Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment produced an Estimate with an increase of 9 per cent, twice the average increase of all Government Departments.
There is some good news in the Estimates, but that is a matter of interpretation. One of the most misleading pieces of good news relates to spending on the environment which we are told will involve an additional £123 million. When the figures are broken down, however, most of the increase will be allocated to spending on roads. It is beyond me how one can equate spending on roads with the protection of the environment. There is a serious air pollution problem in Dublin, but nothing is being done to resolve it. At least the previous Government spent £20,000 on an air quality management plan for Dublin. This is probably the most ungreen Government we have ever had. We are not addressing the problems of the highly carcinogenic PM 10s or PM 2.5s or the question of benzene or VOCs. One in four children who live in Ringsend and Pearse Street suffer from asthma but the Government sits idly by. If a proper approach to the environment were adopted there would be quality bus corridors, Luas would be introduced, cycle paths would be built and air pollution would be properly monitored. If we are to increase tourist numbers we must also invest in litter control and prevention of water pollution. None of those problems is being adequately addressed. Agenda 21 proposes integrated ways of dealing with environmental problems, but this would mean spending money. The Minister for the Environment is obviously beholden to the Department of Finance. In reply to a recent question on eco taxes, the Minister stated he did not realise consultants who had been engaged to examine the reduction in CO 2 emissions were precluded from examining the question of eco taxes. In another question I tabled he stated he had not discussed the question of eco taxes with the Minister for Finance, who seems to be bewildered.
A study on a guaranteed basic income is to be commissioned under Partnership 2000, but we have heard very little about this. I believe the Department of Finance has intruded and said it does not want a guaranteed basic income and, therefore, it will not happen.
The Green Party accepts that the control of public expenditure is necessary, but a limit of 4 per cent is unnecessarily conservative. Exercising caution in areas where additional expenditure is badly needed will mean they will be under-resourced. We must address the social problems of the city. The question of environmental protection has not been adequately addressed in the Estimates.
Deputy Ardagh has given me notice of his intention to share time with Deputy Cooper-Flynn.
Deputy Gormley stated that funding has not been provided for dealing with the refugee problem. Under the Justice Vote funding has been increased from £625,000 to £4,168,000 for the refugee determination bodies.
In 1987 Ray MacSharry and Charles Haughey embarked on the implementation of prudent budget policies and this Government is maintaining them. Growth is expected to reach about 7 per cent this year, the fourth successive year of strong growth. It is projected the standardised employment rate will fall from 11.5 per cent in 1996 to 10.25 per cent in 1997. Retail sales are buoyant and interest rates and inflation are low. As a result, there is strong investment growth. Inflation is expected to be 1.5 per cent this year. Revenue growth has exceeded budget day targets and the Exchequer's overall position is better than expected.
Now is the time to devise a long-term social and economic plan to take account of this increased growth and prosperity. I recently read John Horgan's excellent biography of Seán Lemass and marvelled at the far-reaching plans for economic expansion set out by Lemass in conjunction with Ken Whitaker and his staff. We should devise a plan that all can share, the disadvantaged, the socially excluded, the disabled and the unheralded wife and mother in the home who makes do on family social assistance payments.
It is claimed it is prudent to maintain expenditure at 4 per cent while the growth rate is 7 per cent because the national debt can be reduced. At the same time a small proportion of the population is better off while a large proportion is not benefiting to the same extent. The 80:20 principle seems to apply here in that 20 per cent are doing very well but the other 80 per cent are not doing well enough. The gap between those who have and those who have not is widening.
There is a school of thought that if one reduces taxes people will work harder, more people will be employed and the rising tide will lift everybody. It does not work that way. According to the latest labour force survey, there is an increasing number of people employed, greater even than the usual monthly unemployment figures show. There are advertisements in every shop and factory seeking employees. All the signs show we have almost reached a position of full employment, the stage where there are no people available, able, trained or willing to fill the vacancies that arise.
We must draw up a medium and long-term economic and social plan based on our best projections. That plan should ensure we care for those who are disadvantaged and excluded and not continue to look in a focused and blinkered way at reducing the top tax rates and the national debt. The right balance must be struck between the requirements of budgetary policy and the need to meet social and economic progress. This balance should veer slightly to the left of the political and social spectrum.
The 1998 estimates show net current expenditure rising by 1.8 per cent in 1998 over the likely 1997 outturn. This leaves the Minister great latitude to try to redress the social imbalance while staying close to the 4 per cent spending limit. If there are significant projected increases in tax revenue, I expect the Minister to revisit the hardness and fastness of the 4 per cent ceiling, taking into account the social inequalities which are particularly evident in certain areas of my constituency, Dublin South-Central.
In the Education Estimate I welcome the 25 per cent increase in second level building grants and capital costs. Rosary College in Crumlin needs a new heating system; the building requires rewiring, as the wires are frayed and it is a fire hazard; it also needs a new suspended ceiling and new windows. Crumlin is in an area of disadvantage and as the school is not in a position to raise funds I am delighted with the 25 per cent increase. A new PE hall for MacDara College in Templeogue has been long awaited. It has gone through the planning process and I hope the Minister for Education will be in a position to turn the sod shortly.
The 9 per cent increase for primary education is also welcome. In Walkinstown, Our Lady of the Assumption junior primary school badly needs a remedial teacher. It is in a disadvantaged area and requires a lower pupil-teacher ratio. One hopes this extra funding will allow for better facilities in that school. Loreto junior primary school requires a three year cycle. It caters for children from Fatima Mansions and Dolphin House, some of whom have severe emotional and family problems. The extra spending on primary education will be welcomed there. It would also be nice if Our Lady of Good Counsel boys' national school in Drimnagh could move its toilets indoors.
I hope funds will be provided in the Health Vote to dramatically increase the medical card income limit for old age pensioners. When canvassing for the general election in June, I found this was of great concern. The Minister should also consider giving medical cards to people without means who have long-term chronic medical conditions.
On the subject of poverty traps, the loss of a medical card for children is a major reason for not giving up social welfare payments. I ask the Minister to consider extending the GMS to cover all children qualifying for child benefit, as recommended by the expert group report on the integration of the taxation and social welfare systems. This would bring in an additional 700,000 children, according to the report, and the cost at 1996 figures was £60 million. This approach was seen to be equitable, administratively cost-efficient, non-divisive and simple for the public to understand.
The disabled have been mentioned; more properly-equipped buses should be introduced for them, with hoists, harnesses and an attendant on board. If disabled people had been on the bus involved in the recent accident on the motorway at Ballyfermot, they would have been particularly vulnerable. More places are needed for those with disabilities. There should be a visible progression path from pre-school to permanent, long-term care. The anxiety of parents for their disabled children when the parents reach retirement age is palpable.
Under the Social, Community and Family Affairs Vote, I ask the Minister to abolish the archaic question asked of women when they sign on, as to whether they have child minding facilities in place. No man is asked this question and it precludes married women from entering community employment schemes, which are an excellent method of returning to the workforce. The Minister should consider introducing free Cablelink for old age pensioners in receipt of a free television licence because it is not feasible to have one without the other. The grant for security systems was an excellent scheme which should be made permanent. The Minister should also examine the fuel allowance for old age pensioners, especially considering their vulnerability to hypothermia. It should be made year-round rather than confined to winter months.
Married women should be treated the same as lone parents with regard to the amount they can earn without affecting the weekly family social welfare payment. Currently a married woman may earn £60 per week whereas an unmarried mother can earn £115 per week and, on a sliding scale, up to £230 per week. It is correct that this should be in place but married women should be treated equally in that regard.
I was delighted to hear the Minister announce recently that old age pensioners aged over 75 will be eligible for free schemes even if someone is living with them. At my clinic recently I met a lady living a lonely, depressing life solely because economic circumstances dictate she cannot have someone living with her, because she would lose her free schemes. The 75 year age limit should be reduced.
Under the Vote for the Department of the Taoiseach, there is a need for an official residence for our Taoiseach. Ireland has developed in status economically at a faster rate than any country in Europe. There should be an official residence to which the Taoiseach can invite and entertain heads of state and persons important to Ireland who may wish to come here.
In the Finance Vote, I hope the Minister will allow tax relief for donations to local charities, a subject which was debated recently in the House. On the Office of Public Works Vote, it is important that the Grand Canal from Ballyfermot via Bluebell to Davitt Road is cleaned and improved. It is a much needed amenity as regards wildlife, waterways, fishing and canoeing, particularly for disadvantaged people living in the vicinity.
Shannon has SFADCo and the Gaeltacht areas have Údarás na Gaeltachta. The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment should set up an enterprise and employment authority for disadvantaged areas. While the partnerships work to a certain extent, they need a body with far more clout, involving trained business professions and with a grant-giving capacity. In Dublin South-Central, apart from Guinness and Players there are no industries of major import and they are badly needed.
I am delighted that the national lottery's input to sport and recreation is increasing by 48 per cent, from £9.5 million to £13.9 million. I look forward to seeing a 50 metre swimming pool in the vicinity of Dublin South-Central as soon as possible.
I thank Deputy Ardagh for sharing his time with me. I welcome the Estimates. We are living in a booming economy with growth of 7 per cent, inflation of 1.5 per cent and a huge increase in employment with 52,000 new jobs in 1997. I do not envy the Minister for Finance his task over the next few weeks. It is very difficult to please everybody. While I am very anxious that he makes provision for the disadvantaged in our society, I recognise he must be very prudent in carrying out his work.
The 1998 Estimates show an increase of 1.8 per cent in net current expenditure. I realise that after budget day this will still be below the 4 per cent figure outlined in our programme for Government with the Progressive Democrats. I welcome that fact because this prudent policy has brought us to our current position of one of the greatest economies in Europe.
We campaigned very extensively in the area of Justice, Equality and Law Reform during the election on a policy of zero tolerance. Many people are upset by the fact that some who obtain money from criminal activity can live without any threat from the law. Therefore, I welcome the 30 per cent increase in the Estimate for the Criminal Assets Bureau, which society as a whole will welcome.
In Opposition one of our Members dealt with the area of disability in an innovative way and the figures in the Estimate show that was not just lip-service. The grant for the National Women's Council has been increased by 18 per cent. As one of the 20 female Deputies, I welcome the fact that the many women's agencies around the country are being recognised for their valuable work. The grant for the Council on the Status of People with Disabilities has been increased by 89 per cent since last year. That shows the serious commitment of this Government to tackling the area of disability.
I compliment the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Martin, who has taken on some of the thorny issues in education which were not dealt with over recent years. The issue of one teacher schools particularly affects my constituency. There are 11 one teacher schools in Mayo. I appreciate it is difficult for Dublin Deputies to understand how that affects a community in the west. Deputy Martin is the first Minister to seriously decide to do something about it and I know he will make great inroads in regard to them in the next 12 months.
I also praise the technology programme for schools, Schools IT 2000, and the provision for an education technology investment fund. It is important to recognise the current skills gap in our education system. This investment could not come at a better time if we are to maintain the level of economic development we have enjoyed up to now. There is a great awareness in the community as a whole of the need for technology skills. This was particularly evident recently when Telecom Éireann ran a competition to pick the information age town for Ireland. I am delighted my town of Castlebar was on the short list of the last four contenders. Unfortunately, we did not win first prize but we got a commitment of £1 million from Telecom Éireann. It is important to harness that enthusiasm for technology and there is no better place to start than in schools. This is a very welcome investment.
I also compliment the Minister on getting a 25 per cent increase for building projects, particularly for second level schools. St. Gerald's secondary school in Castlebar is looking for an extension and Davitt College in Castlebar is seeking a new sports facility. I hope those projects will be successful after the budget.
I am disappointed with the provision made for school transport. The current system belongs in the dim and distant past. There is no flexibility for rural areas. I ask the Minister to seriously consider reviewing the school transport system.
I will now turn to the areas of health and children. I have a very short time to speak but I have selected the areas which are most important. If we do not have our health we have nothing. I wish to highlight some issues which I hope the Minister for Health and Children will consider. There is no cardiac unit in the west. A major development was carried out in Mayo General Hospital, which serves the entire county, but it was only the first phase. I hope the second phase will be completed in the term of this Government. The first phase upgraded the male wing of the hospital. The female wing has been untouched for 26 years. The condition of the maternity wing would not be seen in a Third World country.
The Minister should examine the lack of health services for women in the west. It is outrageous a woman must wait six months for the result of a smear test, particularly given its possible serious consequences for her health. I also ask the Minister to address the lack of facilities provided for autistic children, not just in the west but throughout the country. I do not know whether this failure to provide adequate facilities results from a lack of knowledge, but it puts great stress on parents in my constituency and elsewhere.
I have been involved over recent years in the provision of a helicopter emergency medical service. This service comprises a fully equipped helicopter which is like a flying hospital. It is particularly important for the west where the road structure is totally inadequate.
Except in Castlebar.
Many lives are lost every year because of this. I ask the Minister to seriously consider providing a helicopter emergency medical service.
I wish to share my time with Deputies Clune and Hayes.
Is that agreed? Agreed.
I intend to confine my remarks to the Estimate for the Environment and Local Government, more specifically to the way in which the Minister, Deputy Dempsey, is handling it. As far as I can see, the Minister has been far more interested up to now in kite flying than in protecting the environment or in local government.
For example, we discovered yesterday at Question Time that the review of the electoral system, which was promised in the Government's programme, is only a kite flying exercise by the Minister. It appears he wants to improve his public image by speaking about his superficial understanding of the problems of our electoral system and retailing some of the half baked comments which have been made about the multi seat transferable vote system. In fact, he has done no real work on the issue.
Yesterday I asked the Minister what review he had carried out. It appears from his reply that he has commissioned no studies by politicians or other informed or expert persons and has no instructions from the Cabinet on the matter, but has handed it over to the Minister of State, Deputy Molloy, one of whose jobs will be to examine the different options for how such a review might be approached. If any Members feel they might be endangered by a move from the multi seat transferable vote system to a single seat transferable vote system they can rest easy because there will be no change in our electoral system before the next general election, although the Minister might get overtaken in that regard sooner than he thinks.
I thought very carefully about this and I believe I can predict the date on which we will receive the report of this review. It will be what we call as Gaeilge, lá philleadh na gcléite, or, in the English vernacular, the day the cows come home. The Minister is engaged in only kite flying on that issue. Having said so much about what he is not going to do, that is, review the electoral system, the Minister is unaccountably coy about his intention to postpone the elections to county councils and county borough councils until 1999. We have asked him and the Taoiseach to outline their plans in this connection because many voters and members of local authorities would like to know. They have provided different answers.
The Minister says that, by law, these elections are due to be held in 1998 but he will not elaborate. The Taoiseach advises that no decision has yet been made, giving us to believe that another decision might be made. The Minister tells Fianna Fáil councillors and activists in private that he wants to postpone the election until 1999 but that he is afraid I might disagree and, if so, he does not want to make such a proposal to the House. In the meantime the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment and Local Government told "Prime Time" that the local elections would take place in 1999. I invite them to decide on and announce their plans.
There is merit in the idea of having the elections to county councils and county borough councils in 1999 on the same day as the elections for the urban authorities and to the European Parliament. There is also merit in aligning these elections together on that date and definitively thereafter. However, it is the Minister's job to propose that and I have no intention of doing his job for him. In the meantime, it would be useful if the Taoiseach, the Minister for the Environment and Local Government and the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment and Local Government, Deputy Molloy, met and decided from which hymn sheet they are singing. Are they singing from the King James version of the gospel or from another modernised version?
The Minister for the Environment and Local Government has been voluble regarding his intention to unpick the provisions of the Electoral Act, 1997, which relate to the public funding of general election candidates and to the limitation of expenditure by parties and candidates during the course of election campaigns. However, he was coy in answering questions yesterday; he did not want to commit himself.
I presume that some of his Fianna Fáil Cabinet colleagues have had second thoughts and now see the wisdom of what they opposed while in Opposition. Given that the chief guru of the Progressive Democrats is allowing his membership of the party to wither on the vine, like the party itself, I am not aware of its position on the matter. They are only numerical makeweights and ministerial and junior ministerial ornaments. Their opinion does not count.
I suspect that the Minister will make no proposals about the Electoral Act, 1997, and that the remainder of it will come into operation next year. Eventually, he and other Deputies on his side of the House will praise the Act. It is another straw in the wind and, given the rate at which the Minister is jettisoning them, most of the commitments on the environment in the programme for Government will not amount to anything more than a row of genetically modified beans by next summer.
I am concerned by the Minister's handling of the ten year restoration programme for non-national roads, which was put in place by the previous Government. Fianna Fáil failed or refused to see the need for a programme of that kind for the last seven years. In the first two years of the programme, almost one sixth of the 87,000 miles of non-national roads were upgraded. The programme needs further reinforcement if it is to reach the target set for the year 2005, but yesterday the Minister was unable to outline his plans for 1998, only five weeks before the beginning of the year. That approach is not just lackadaisical, it is neglectful and irresponsible.
The Minister has been making encouraging noises regarding waste management policy. He appears finally to have steered his Department — I applaud him for it — in the direction of including incineration as one of the options in our system for waste disposal. However, there is nothing in the Estimate about pushing that any further. I encourage him to proceed with it.
I asked the Minister yesterday about his proposals on new technology that will reduce vehicle emissions. He knew nothing about it. I will send him material I have obtained from the Toyota Motor Company in Japan which next year is marketing a new hybrid technology vehicle which will be a little more expensive than others. I remind the Minister that we already have a much more environmentally friendly form of motor fuel called liquefied petroleum gas, which people are used to using. It would be a simple measure in the budget to restore the use of this gas to what it was in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
The Minister will go down in history for a comment he recently used in this House. When we proposed certain measures to improve traffic flow in Dublin his only policy advice to Dublin commuters who sit for hours in traffic jams was that they should think before they travel.
Insufficient money is being provided for the protection and improvement to the environment. A 2 per cent increase this year over last year in funding to the Department of the Environment and Local Government is pathetic when the environment is deteriorating by the day. Every day there are reports of fish kills, water pollution and contaminated water which people cannot drink. We must invest more in the environment and recognise it as a valuable asset.
With regard to water quality, only a very small percentage of the population is served by water treatment plants. In a recent survey of such plants per head of population, we were ranked eighteenth out of 19 countries. Heavy curination is the only treatment process available to many rural areas, which is a sad reflection on society.
This summer underlined the deteriorating quality of our waterways. It takes six to eight years for this type of deterioration to become manifest and considerably longer to rectify. We should act now and invest in our environment and not let things deteriorate irretrievably.
Hitherto we have followed our European neighbours but now we can see the writing on the wall for them. Already we can see the diminished quality of our waters to sustain salmon and trout. The condition of Lough Leane in Killarney is a sad reflection on us. The lakes of Killarney are covered in algae bloom.
We must invest more in monitoring. It is no good having monitoring procedures closed at weekends. A constant eye needs to be kept on our environment. We must also invest more in waste water treatment and stop treating rivers and waterways as sewers. The Department of the Environment and Local Government reports that 68 per cent of the population is connected to public sewers, that 15 per cent of sewage is discharged without treatment, 35 per cent is discharged following primary treatment, 47 per cent is discharged following secondary treatment and less than 3 per cent receives full tertiary treatment, which is what is required to remove phosphates and nitrates.
I hope some of the increased funding of 11 per cent for roads this year will go towards completing the link road around Ballincollig. The tunnel is due to open in Cork in 1998 but traffic from this tunnel will go nowhere unless the Minister provides the necessary funding to complete the road structure in Cork.
We need to invest in the environment for our future and for our children's future, for tourism and our enjoyment of it.
Debate adjourned.