Private Members Business. - Government Policies: Motion (Resumed).
The following motion was moved by Deputy John Bruton on Tuesday, 27 June 2000:
That Dáil Éireann:
–noting that the Government's economic policy lacks coherence and foresight and that the latest inflation rate of 5.2%, which is the highest level for 15 years and three times the EU average, is threatening the stability of the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness and is impacting most severely on the most vulnerable people in society particularly pensioners and those on fixed income;
–aware that if current trends continue, the average peak hour travel speeds in the Dublin area will fall from 14 km per hour now to just 8 km per hour by 2016 which will result in huge economic, social and environmental costs; and that demand for public transport will increase by 450% over the same period;
–noting that in the absence of any coherent spatial planning, house prices have risen by 70% over the past three years, putting home ownership beyond the reach of most first time buyers, and that during the same period rents have doubled and local authority housing lists have increased by 40%;
–conscious that since this Government took office there is a deepening crisis in the health services, evidenced by an increase of 18% in hospital waiting lists, the fact that over 14,000 adults and children have been waiting for over a year for a hospital bed, the shortage of nurses and doctors and industrial unrest and low morale among medical and paramedical staff;
–concerned about the rise in violent crime, with 30 deaths in the first half of the year, and the growing level of public disorder and attacks in public places;
–noting the fact that the Government has failed to produce a comprehensive child care package and has introduced tax policies that are divisive between families;
–noting that the Government's environmental policies are failing to deal with crucial issues such as waste disposal and Ireland's international obligations to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions;
–aware that despite numerous promises, the Government has failed to publish new ethics legislation and the Taoiseach has been dilatory and evasive in dealing with problems concerning former Deputy Ray Burke, Deputy Denis Foley and Deputy John Ellis;
–recognising the widespread public outrage regarding the Government's decision to nominate Mr. Hugh O'Flaherty to the position of Vice President of the European Investment Bank, despite the acknowledgement by the Taoiseach that Mr. O'Flaherty has questions to answer in relation to his role in the Sheedy case;
–noting the recent public comments made by the Tánaiste which may have profoundly damaging implications for a current criminal trial,
condemns the Government's abject failure to adequately address any of the fundamental problems facing the country.
Debate resumed on amendment No. 1:
To delete all words after "Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following:
"notes the major progress made over the past three years in addressing fundamental issues of concern to all communities throughout the country and in particular:
–the restoration of ceasefires, the negotiation and implementation of an agreement which can help build a lasting and just peace and the major breakthrough on arms achieved this week;
–the implementation of employment action plans and economic policies which have led to the creation of almost 300,000 jobs, a dramatic reduction of unemployment from 10% to 4.6% and of long-term unemployment from 5% to 1.7%;
–the publication and funding of the National Development Plan 2000-2006 which provides the blueprint for sustainable social and economic development and the first serious targeting of resources towards developing all regions;
–the decision to prepare the first ever national spatial strategy;
–the provision of £20 billion for the development of public infrastructure, such as roads, public transport, water and waste-water services, environmental protection, telecommunications, energy, housing and health;
–the provision of over £250 million as part of the first ever national child care package;
–the increase of pensions by £18 compared to £7 during the previous Government's term;
–the introduction of tax cuts, which have meant real increases in take home pay for all sections of the labour force;
–the implementation of an unprecedented programme to reform and develop local government;
–the publication, this week, of the Standards in Public Offices Bill, 2000, which will provide a permanent mechanism for addressing allegations against office holders and the preparation of a series of other measures;
–the implementation of a series of initiatives which have increased the number of housing units being built by almost one-third and have provided almost £7 billion for a multi-annual social housing programme;
–the development of an integrated policy to improve traffic management in Dublin;
–the unprecedented decrease in crime figures of 21%;
–the increase of direct funding of schools by almost two-thirds, the hiring of 2,500 new teachers, the reduction of primary class sizes to their lowest ever level and the provision of unprecedented supports for pupils with special needs;
–the successful negotiation of Agenda 2000 and the restoration of live cattle trade and the creation of positive conditions which will underpin farm incomes into the future;
–the introduction of the highest minimum wage in Europe;
–the increase in health funding by an unprecedented 56% and treatment of 70,000 more people per annum; and
–the fact that this progress has been achieved over a short period and involved replacing the record of a previous Government whichinter alia:
–failed to tackle the crime problem;
–refused to take any measure to address housing shortages;
–under-invested in the health service and cut back funding for the reduction in public waiting lists;
–had no policy for investing in public transport, rail safety or other elements of an integrated transport system;
–froze school funding and voted to cutback teacher numbers;
–implemented child care policies which have caused a reduction in child care places; and
–gave no significant increases in pensions.".
–(Minister for Foreign Affairs).
Tá an-áthas orm a bheith anseo anocht mar Theachta Dála tofa ar son muintir Thiobraid Árann Theas. Beidh mé ag labhairt sa Teach ar son ghnáth-dhaoine atá dearmadta ag an Rialtas agus ag an Celtic tiger, agus go mór mhór ar son muintir Thiobraid Árann Theas agus na bailte ansin, cosúil le Carrick-on-Suir, Tiobrad Árann agus Caiseal Mumhan, áit a bhfuil monarcha folamh le fada an lá, atá dearmadta ag an Rialtas agus ag an Celtic tiger. Tá mé ag cuidiú le rún Fhine Gael.
By refusing to bring Hugh O'Flaherty before a committee of the House to explain his position, the Government is continuing to show complete disregard for the widespread concern at the implications of his appointment. The public wishes to know whether the existence of a two-tiered society is being maintained by the Government and by sections of the Judiciary. Are disgraced individuals and vested interests in a position to blow the whistle on leading politicians? These questions are being widely asked throughout the country and the public wants answers.
My vote does not at all mean I have confidence in the Opposition parties. The tax amnesty was co-sponsored by the Labour Party in Government while Fine Gael Ministers for Finance turned a blind eye to widespread tax evasion by the rich through bogus non-resident accounts. All three parties are responsible for the two-tiered society and that is why they lost the South Tipperary by-election.
The message from South Tipperary is that people are no longer prepared to tolerate a two-tiered society. I received thousands of votes from traditional supporters of all parties. It became very clear to me that there is a deep anger among Fianna Fáil supporters in particular. Thousands of honest people who have worked hard for their communities, who never got or expected any reward, are enraged that their loyal service to Fianna Fáil should have been so abused.
In the economic field the gap between the two tiers in our society has widened under the past three Governments. It is shameful that according to a recent UNICEF report one in four of our children under 14 years of age continues to live in poverty despite a budget surplus of £6 billion. Every Deputy should blush with shame on hearing the appeals of the child poverty initiative today on radio. For too long the rich and powerful have formed the golden circle and it is now time we made our children our golden circle. Let us do the right thing for once. Let us not adjourn the House until child benefit has been raised to European levels of around £100 per month per child.
The recently announced Government measures to combat inflation and rising prices are completely insufficient. Social welfare benefits and the minimum wage must be raised immediately to compensate for the huge increases in inflation, which is expected to rise further to 6% in the coming month.
Successive Governments have also maintained a two-tiered approach to economic development. The constituencies of Ministers have been given high priority while entire regions have been neglected. In effect, a system of political patronage operates. In South Tipperary we have missed out on decentralisation and on the priority development areas announced in the 1997 budget by the previous Government. Now, we are to lose out on the 8,500 incubator high tech jobs recently announced by the Government. It is not surprising that the small areas research unit at Trinity College recently found that almost 50%, or 36,000 people, in South Tipperary live in areas designated as deprived, including Carrick-on-Suir, Tipperary Town, Cashel, Fethard and Ballingarry.
The people of South Tipperary have sent me here to demand honesty and justice in public affairs and fair play in the allocation of resources and I will spare no effort on their behalf.
The Government hopes the people have very short memories, but it seems the Government is suffering from terminal amnesia. On RTE radio this evening the Tánaiste denied she said the O'Flaherty affair would be forgotten in three months. However, when the tape was replayed her words were clear: "We must move on. I will predict three and four months from now will anybody remember this?". The meaning could not be plainer, and it is a measure of the state of the coalition Government that the Tánaiste could seek to deny it in her first public comment since the judgment in the Haughey case.
I support the motion and will also support the motion of "no confidence" in the Government. As a member of a health board and a public representative who has daily experience of the many shortcomings of our health services, I want to focus on health issues in the short time available to me. I acknowledge that progress and improvements have taken place in many areas. The spending commitments in the national development plan are sound. However, what has not changed and what daily grows more glaring is the growth in inequality in our health services. Health is for sale as a commodity in Ireland today – that is the sad fact. A constituent recently told me she was informed by a specialist that she could avoid a two year waiting list if she paid a hefty extra sum in fees. If a person has the wealth to avail of expensive private care he or she need not worry about escalating waiting lists. The health care services are only one example of the failures of the Government over three years. It is a shocking indictment and must be addressed.
(Dublin West): The entity which purports to run the State cannot be described as a Government. We have a discredited Fianna Fáil Party with increasing numbers of terrified backbenchers resting on ten wobbly legs, four nervous members of the Progressive Democrats, four pseudo-Independents and two strays from Fianna Fáil, cast – temporarily at least – into the wilds. The real nature of Fianna Fáil, the main component of this excuse for a Government, was dramatically displayed today at the Moriarty tribunal when a former chief fundraiser explained how the party opened shop in the plush Westbury Hotel three weeks before a general election and from 9 a.m. until late at night party personnel received the rich and powerful as they came to give large financial contributions to assist Fianna Fáil. Big businessmen, developers and builders – and no doubt speculators and hucksters of all kinds – lined up to buy their way into the favour of the party which they hoped would form the Government and repay them through policies favourable to them. Is it any wonder the Government sat on its hands while the very same cabal is responsible for the terrible housing crisis because of profiteering?
I understand the Minister for Public Enterprise is sharing time with the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Mr. O'Donoghue, the Minister of State, Deputy Molloy, and Deputies Conor Lenihan and Martin Brady.
I welcome Deputy Healy and congratulate him on his maiden speech. I hope he will have many happy years in the House. I look forward to his further contributions and to listening and talking to him. One could not help but share in the huge joy of his wife and young family on the day of the count.
I am glad to have the opportunity to speak about public transport. On taking office I found a public transport system in urgent need of investment. There was no strategy for its development and revitalisation. There was also a serious situation in relation to rail safety and an absence of any serious analysis of the need for institutional and regulatory reform. During the past three years I have addressed each of these issues with the full support of my colleagues in Government.
The clearest possible evidence of the Govern ment's determination to improve public transport is to be seen in the national development plan which sets out a clear strategy for its development and provides for an unprecedented level of investment, totalling £2.2 billion over the seven years to 2006. The strategy has three principal elements: a £1.6 billion investment programme to radically transform the public transport and traffic management systems in the greater Dublin area; a £500 million investment programme to revitalise the rail network, and a £150 million regional public transport programme.
We commissioned the first ever independent review of rail safety. The Government acted rapidly approving a five year £430 million rail safety programme for which the Exchequer is providing almost £180 million in 1999 and 2000. I have put in place a system of independent and transparent rail safety audits and announced a framework for the independent regulation of rail safety.
Under the Cabinet committee we are developing a radical programme of institutional and regulatory reform to complement the investment strategy. I have published the two papers which were approved in principle by the committee, one on a new institutional framework for public transport and the other on the regulation of the bus market in Dublin. These are the subject of consultation with the public transport partnership forum and, having taken account of its views, will provide a framework for action on institutional and regulatory reform.
On taking office we revitalised and gave new direction to the Dublin light rail project. I published an indicative timetable and established an independent action advisory group to monitor implementation of the project in accordance with the timetable. We acted with great urgency in response to the DTO short-term action plan in mid-1998 and gave approval to the immediate purchase of 150 additional buses and the upgrading of rail services. We convinced the European Commission to co-finance buses for the first time and provided Exchequer support for bus and rail investment. An investment of more than £70 million was approved at that time.
We have provided £1.6 billion for public transport investment in the greater Dublin area. This will allow for substantial expansion and development of the bus network, the implementation of the light rail network, the enhancement of suburban rail services, the improved integration of public transport services and better traffic management. There are 225 buses for delivery this year, of which 125 will be additions and 100, replacements. An order for 60 suburban rail cars was placed recently for use in suburban services. This is in addition to the 20 on order for delivery this year. The Estimates for 2000 provide for Exchequer capital grants of £235 million.
We are also planning for the future. The Dublin Transportation Office is nearing completion of its work on an updated transportation strategy for the period to 2016. The figures quoted in the motion have been taken from the DTO's work and identify what would happen if nothing was done up to 2016. We will work immediately on the DTO's recommendations. The DTO's work is being assisted by two recently completed studies, the strategic rail study of the development of the suburban rail network which I asked CIE to commission and the bus network review which sets out a plan for its development and expansion. Clearly these studies and the DTO work will have implications for the investment programme under the national development plan.
I published a policy paper on the introduction of market forces into the bus service in the greater Dublin area – I thank the Opposition for its support – which proposes to introduce franchising on a phased basis. The Cabinet infrastructural committee approved my proposals in principle and I will shortly seek formal Government endorsement for them. As a first step additional route licences will issue next week and Dublin Bus will expand subcontracting of its services having recently reached agreement with the trade unions. In the autumn the Cabinet committee will complete its work on the institutional and regulatory framework by addressing the institutional arrangements for transport in the greater Dublin area.
I have no doubt that people will look on this as the period within which the Government took far-sighted decisions which charted the future for a renewed and revitalised public transport system. I challenge Fine Gael to point to a similar record during its period in office.
I was appalled and outraged at the performance of the leader of the main Opposition party, Deputy Bruton, in the House this morning when he alleged that this was a Government of sleaze. At a time when there is no allegation against any member of the Government in relation to any matter connected to corruption, it was an extraordinary statement, from a man who said at the beef tribunal in June 1992 that he might have received contributions personally at election times but that "these contributions were not sought by me at all, entirely unsolicited, but people would just make contributions which would be used towards the local campaign, or passed on to party headquarters." He further said that there was "no systematic informing of politicians of contributions . not even the party leader of the time." He admitted at the Dunnes tribunal in April 1997 that he did personally seek funds from Ben Dunne in 1991 and said, ". . . in the circumstances of early 1991 I did become involved in seeking contributions directly from business." These two statements are directly contradictory. I therefore advise the Leader of Fine Gael to give over the fascism and produce a few policy documents if he is to convince the people that he is fit for government. That kind of smear tactic will not work.
The Opposition motion before the House is as good a piece of sham parliamentary tactics as one will find in a parliamentary democracy anywhere in the free world. It has originated from a party which has over-reached itself yet again in its anxiety to demonstrate to the public its preparedness for government. If this is the best it can offer to the people as an alternative to the most successful Government in the history of the State I am afraid that its tenancy on the benches opposite is destined to be a long one.
What about Hugh O'Flaherty?
The Opposition has sought to criticise the Government's anti-crime policies and its unprecedented programme for child care. Throughout my tenure as Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform I have reiterated that there are three essential components to the Government's policy on tackling crime: a clear and determined focus on tackling those engaged in crime; a determination that the law enforcement agencies will be properly equipped and resourced to deal with crime, and a commitment to address and, where possible, ameliorate the causes of crime. As a Government we are unyielding in this approach.
This three pronged approach to tackling crime is working and we are well on the way to achieving the ambitious targets set three years ago on entering government. Perhaps the most significant example of this is that indictable crime has fallen by more than 21% in the three years since we took office. No one can dispute that this is a sizeable achievement.
This fall in crime did not happen by itself. It was the result of a number of initiatives and innovative legislation which I introduced to tackle crime and make our streets safer. It happened as a result of the Government's determination on entering office, to fight crime as never before and to ensure the incoherent and incompetent efforts of the rainbow Government's attempt at fighting it remained a distant memory.
Alongside the drop in crime, the detection rate for recorded crimes has increased significantly in recent years. Ireland has a detection rate of 44% compared to 21% in the US and 26% in the UK. We have one of the world's highest reporting ratios. This has come about due to a number of factors, including the priority given to the funding and resourcing of the Garda Síochána. Since taking office we have increased the strength of the Garda Síochána from a base line of 10,800. The number of gardaí has now increased to 11,458 and is on target to reach the planned strength of 12,000 by 2002. Furthermore, the Estimate for the Garda Vote has increased from £472 million in 1997 to £671.6 million for 2000, while the overall Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform budget has increased from £698 million under the last Administration to £1 billion.
Earlier this year I launched the Garda high speed boat to police the inland waterways and ordered a second helicopter for the Air support Unit. These resources allow the Garda Síochána to police the streets, waterways and airspace as never before. It is also my intention to finalise the provision of 1,300 extra prison places by the end of the year, with Government approval secured for an additional 700 prison places. This has enabled me to bring into force all of the provisions of the Bail Act, which is finally putting an end to the so-called revolving door syndrome and will ensure that those apprehended by the Garda are punished accordingly.
The Criminal Assets Bureau, which was established consequential upon the Proceeds of Crime Act, 1996, which I introduced from the Opposition benches, is having unprecedented success. Within the framework of extensive criminal legislation, including the Criminal Justice Act, 1999, and increased resourcing and funding of the Garda Síochána, criminals are being brought to justice and are paying for their crimes on a scale hitherto unknown. Today in the House, my Department's 31st Bill since I took up office was passed.
It coincides with the 31 murders since Christmas.
While the mechanisms and the legislation are in place to tackle crime, it is equally important to tackle the causes of crime and prevent young people entering the downward spiral that so often marks a life of crime. Social inclusion is a theme that runs at the heart of the Government. With this in mind I introduced a number of measures in an attempt to ensure that young people have an alternative to a life of crime. It is imperative that today's children and young people have a chance to develop and participate as fully integrated members of society. In this regard I introduced the Children Bill, which is a blueprint for the development of the new juvenile justice system. The new Bill updates and reforms the law and takes a realistic but humane approach to juveniles who get involved in anti-social and criminal activities. I have also greatly increased the resources available for the Garda youth diversion schemes, which have proved very successful in diverting young people from criminal activity. Other crime prevention measures include the continued funding of crime prevention projects under the umbrella of the probation and welfare service.
As the sponsors of this opportunistic motion, Fine Gael is seeking to exorcise the ghosts of the middle 1990s as the party sat on its hands and wailed helplessly as crime spiralled out of control. It cut the party to the core. Fine Gael, the self styled party of law and order, lost the plot and its nerve when its rainbow colleagues balked at taking the measures my party proposed as necessary and appropriate. The poodles of Government have attempted to become the rottweilers of Opposition.
Today and over the past three years the Government has instilled a new sense of urgency, self confidence and hope into the criminal justice system. Of course there are difficulties. I would be the last to deny that. However, we are fully engaged in the task, with a sense of purpose and a clear focus. Unlike the rainbow Government, which floundered and thrashed around like a headless chicken by way of responding to the crime crisis, we remain on course and undiminished in our determination to tackle crime.
One would have thought that having pored over the entrails of the 1997 general election, Fine Gael would have got the message loud and clear. However, since then, the party has attempted to oppose and thwart the Government's consistent and successful anti-crime policies. Fine Gael is no longer a party of law and order, it is a party of smear, smoke-screens and it is without policy or direction.
We were not eliminated in the recent by-election count. The Minister should listen to the people.
The party has a clear desire to return to office on the back of misrepresentation, innuendo, rumour and smear.
The priority afforded by the Government to the housing area is clear. We must both address social housing needs and help create the conditions where those who seek to own their homes have a chance to do so. Housing is not a short-term issue and we must implement sustainable solutions which last over generations.
The Government has prioritised the development of a modern, efficient and effective planning system. We are preparing a national spatial development strategy, which will identify broad spatial development patterns for areas and will attempt to deliver more balanced development between and within different regions. Strategic planning guidelines have already been launched by the Government, which will form the basis of a development strategy for the overall Dublin and mid-east region.
Residential density guidelines were issued by the Department of the Environment and Local Government to all planning authorities last September. Local authorities and An Bord Pleanála have taken on board the principles set out in the guidelines. The Planning and Development Bill, 1999, has extended and updated the planning code and contains a fundamental development in Irish planning law. Part V requires local authorities to prepare housing strategies, addressing the housing needs in their area covered in their development plan, including the need for social and affordable housing.
The national development plan, published last November, provides for massively increased investment in economic infrastructure, such as road, water, sewerage services and public trans port, which are all essential to support housing development in the period 2000-06 and beyond. Never before has State investment in water, sewerage services, roads and other services, required for the opening up of building land for development, been increased so substantially as it has been by the Government since it took office. For example, funding for water and sewerage services has increased from £163 million in 1997 to almost £290 million, an increase of 78%.
The degree to which the Government's investment in housing and related infrastructure is yielding positive results in a period of extraordinary and unprecedented growth in housing demand should not be under estimated. Measures taken by the Government has led to us achieving a record housing output of 46,512 units nationally in 1999. The indications are that the upper trend in new house completions is set to continue. We are building new houses at by far the highest rate in Europe in relation to our population and at five times the rate being achieved by our nearest neighbour, the UK.
In spite of continuing high demand, the effects of increased output are reflected in moderating house price trends since house price inflation peaked in 1998. Average prices for the first quarter of this year in Dublin are showing reductions of 1.1% and 2.7% for both new and secondhand houses respectively, the first time that prices have dropped since 1995. Year on year, new and second hand house prices rose by 13% and 14% nationally, the lowest increase since 1996.
We have for the first time provided a long-term framework for the funding of social and affordable housing through the inclusion of £6 billion in the national development plan. Funding under this heading and for housing related infrastructure was further increased by £984 million in the Action on Housing programme, announced two weeks ago, again reflecting the Government's commitment to tackle social and affordable housing need. This investment will ensure that the housing needs of almost 100,000 households will be met with Government assistance over the period of the plan.
We have provided for an increase of 6,000 starts in the local authority housing programme, with funding for 41,500 starts over the plan period, front loaded to meet existing demand more quickly. A multi-annual approach to the local government housing programme has been adopted which will allow for greater forward planning and efficiencies of scale in delivering the increased target for 25,000 additional local authority houses to be started over the coming four years.
When I became Minister of State with responsibility for housing, the voluntary sector was practically on its knees because the funding available had not kept pace with the increase in building and tender costs.
Mr. Hayes:
The levels of assistance available for the provision of voluntary housing has been increased substantially on two occasions, in November 1997 and October 1999, to take account of rising construction costs and to stimulate greater activity in the voluntary housing sector. In addition, for the first time, additional assistance for site acquisition costs by voluntary bodies was introduced, a very significant step. These steps have resulted in significant increases at local level in the voluntary housing sector, with output expected to reach 1,000 units this year, double the 1998 output.
The Government is also fully committed to tackling the problem of homelessness and recently launched an integrated strategy on homelessness which offers a new approach to the way in which services for the homeless are to be planned, funded and provided. This strategy aims to provide an integrated response from all the statutory and voluntary agencies providing services to the homeless. The Government has made substantial current and capital funding available to ensure that the measures outlined in the strategy are implemented and are effective.
The Government's response to overall housing needs forms a coherent, connected strategy response. I have outlined some of the range of actions being taken by the Government across the housing spectrum. The recent action by the Government in conjunction with the series of measures already in place will result in further moderation of house price increases, and involve a more effective provision of social and affordable housing and the establishment of a pattern of balanced growth.
I will address specifically the health elements of the Opposition motion. This is a frivolous and vexatious motion which flies in the face of the facts regarding the Government's record on health services. As a member of the board of Beaumont Hospital, I can claim some insight and practical experience of what we are doing on this vital issue. From time to time at board meetings I have questioned Mr. Pat Lyons, the chief executive who is doing a great job there, because there is a spin being put by the Opposition that the Government is not giving the financial assistance and aid required to the hospital. He stated categorically to me that the hospital received all the financial assistance it required and finance is not a problem. It is contemptible of the Opposition to play scare politics with health and the lives of ordinary people in a vain attempt to secure short-term electoral advantage. It is both nauseating and hypocritical.
Earlier Deputy Joe Higgins stated that Fianna Fáil backbenchers have wobbly legs and are terrified. I do not have wobbly legs and I am not terrified either.
Allow Deputy Brady to continue.
Deputy Joe Higgins has a habit of playing to the Gallery here to get media attention. I would ask him, if he was here, what he has achieved since he came into this House? His list would be very short.
I will touch briefly on four topics: health spending, hospital waiting lists, the nurses issue and tobacco. In 2000, the total spending on health amounts £4.222 billion. This represents an increase of 14%.
It is not the amount but the way the Government is spending it.
I will outline a number of facts. The capital allocation for 2000 is £321 million, an increase of 35% on 1999. This is the first year of the national development plan, which has committed £2 billion for the period 2000-2006 in respect of the capital programme for health. This is almost a trebling of the capital funding in the period 1993-99. This year there will be an increase of £95 million for people with disabilities. This represents a 116% rise over 1999.
What are we doing to reduce the waiting lists?
The Government is providing for the validation of existing information, the maximum utilisation of all capacity in the system, the flexible use of resources and a more focused effort in implementing the range of medium and long-term measures affecting the hospital and non-hospital sectors recommended in the 1998 report of the expert group.
On the nurses issue, the Government's priority is to press ahead with the agenda recommended by the Commission on Nursing. This will be done in partnership with all of the key players involved, including SIPTU. The monitoring committee has been established to review progress on a quarterly basis on the implementation of the report of the Commission on Nursing. The National Council for Professional Development of Nursing and Midwifery has been established to develop new clinical career pathways for nurses and midwives involving the creation of clinical specialists and advanced practitioner posts. There is also an increase in the number of nurse training places. This year 300 extra nurse training places will be created, bringing the total to 1,500 training places in new schools of nursing. These have been established at Castlebar, Tralee and Monaghan. These are all facts.
On the issue of tobacco, the Government takes cigarette addiction very seriously. We should attack this killer with some virulence as we attacked tuberculosis in the 1940s and 1950s and because 30% of all cancers are linked to smoking. Cigarettes kill and we will do everything in our power to reduce tobacco addiction. The strategy funded by £12 million in 2000, which will have the full effect of £21 million in 2001, is funded from taxation on cigarettes. That, in itself, is a positive step.
I commend and congratulate the former Minister, Deputy Cowen and the Minister, Deputy Martin, for the work they did in that area. They have contributed a great deal.
I am delighted to be able to contribute to this debate. There is a terrible sense of déjà vu. It seems almost every week we get a motion like this from the Opposition, omnibus in character and condemnatory of the Government, which tries to introduce in national affairs an air of crisis.
Every week we get another scandal.
We do not get them on the mobile telephone.
Before I get into more a robust debate with my old sparring partner, Deputy Flanagan, I welcome Deputy Healy to the Chamber. I know it is not his first occasion to be here but I have not had the opportunity to congratulate him on his wonderful success.
How did he get here? He got your party's votes.
I hope his first contribution may be tonight.
He has already made his contribution to the debate.
I am looking forward to his contributions because on this side of the House we have got tired of the Labour Party. It is good to see a real republican socialist in the House. We have got rather tired of the weak Opposition, slightly pink in colour, which is offered by the Labour Party. We prefer the full assault which I am sure Deputy Healy will be able to present to the Government on all fronts, be they republican or socialist.
He will not support the Government in the House.
Please allow Deputy Lenihan to continue.
We look forward to the kind of criticism in Leinster House which he was well able to deploy on the streets of Clonmel. As everybody knows, we have been longing for a real Opposition for three years. We have not had real opposition from Fine Gael and we have not been offered real opposition from the Labour Party. I hope we may get some real opposition and real criticism from the ranks of the more independent minded Deputies and the real socialists in the House. Most of our hurts in Government have been somewhat self-inflicted. They certainly have not been inflicted by the gentlemen opposite who have languished in the opinion polls and in all of the by-elections which have occurred since the Government came to office.
We were ahead of his party last week.
That is the sad reality of the past week as well. What should have been a major hit on the Government, to borrow a phrase from the Taoiseach, has ended up as something of a whimper. The bottom line is that the Government will continue until 2002 more assured and more determined to focus people's attention on the real issues and not the rather childish love affair that has now developed between the public broadcasters and the Opposition.
We, as a party, will not be defeated by this famous love affair which is growing by the day between the publicly licensed broadcasting outlet and the Opposition. They work in a symbiotic way, trying to induce an air of crisis and panic where none exists.
Please allow Deputy Lenihan continue.
I see no conspiracy. I see only a temporary and rather casual alliance between these two pillars of national life, the Opposition and the media. I come from a media background and I know how hard it is for them to say something positive. Certainly to say something about Fianna Fáil is almost regarded as a sin in its own right.
Deputy Lenihan, the time allocated to you is concluded.
Deputy Lenihan is always colourful.
Deputy Yates, I understand you are sharing time with Deputies Higgins, Flanagan, Clune, Ring, Boylan, Burke and Gormley.
This motion comes at a time when the Government, having been in perpetual crisis, is now in a deepening new crisis. We have seen a serious loss of its authority and we now see stripped bare, the one remaining goal of the Government which is to hang on to power for its own sake. It is now a lame duck Government which has lost all credibility and that situation is worsening daily.
Her holiness, the Tánaiste, has been shown to have feet of clay with two body blows being dealt to her in the past week. One was the Haugh judgment which shows the injudicious nature of her remarks about Mr. Haughey. This comes hard on the heels of her lack of judgment in not having any reservations about the appointment of the former Supreme Court judge, Mr. Hugh O'Flaherty, to the board of the European Investment Bank.
This is nothing compared to the tailspin Fianna Fáil is in. The latest evidence of that is its candidate's elimination in the recent by-election on 22% of the vote and this in the party heartland of south Tipperary. We have seen from the time of the difficulties of the former Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Ray Burke, a daily dose of difficulties from the tribunals and an ever-increasing number of newly established Independent Deputies of Fianna Fáil origin who are bolstering the Government. The previous election saw Fianna Fáil receive its second worst result in the history of the State. I confidently predict it will receive its worst ever in the next election.
What does it have to show after three years in Government? It has taken short-term options every time. There have been neither structural policies, serious structural reforms in the economy nor a spatial plan. The bedrock of the economy is competitiveness, yet we now have an inflation rate of 5.2%, which is the highest in 20 years, the highest in the EU and three times the European average. This will be the seed of decline of the terrific growth Fianna Fáil inherited from the rainbow Government.
In terms of the lives of ordinary people, it is more difficult to get to work and it takes longer to get through traffic. The gap between what people can afford for a house and the price of houses, which has increased by more than 70%, speaks for itself. The Government has done little or nothing to improve the lot of people on local authority housing waiting lists. Planning permission applications are fraught with delay because local authorities cannot recruit enough planning staff, and this is symptomatic of the overall labour shortage in the economy. In a hospital in my constituency, long-term patients are taken out of day beds every morning to let in day patients and they are put back again in the evening. Such is the pressure on beds, not to speak of the waiting lists for orthopaedic and other vital surgery. In terms of child care, the Government has commissioned endless reports but has done nothing to make it more affordable by increasing the supply side of child care nor has it adopted the Fine Gael proposal of doubling the child benefit for children up to five years of age. In waste management, the Minister for the Environment and Local Government has lectured local authorities but has copped out himself in terms of a future strategy to deal with this critical area.
Nowhere is the failure of the Government more evident than in the Minister for Public Enterprise, Deputy O'Rourke. Only now a major debacle is emerging regarding Eircom. We have come a long way from dizzy heights of the balloons and champagne corks this time last year when Eircom shares were launched at 3.90. Today, that price has fallen to 2.68, which is sickening for the 500,000 people who bought shares. We now discover that the Minister refused to put in place a share option scheme for management, which means its performance will be assessed on any improvement of the share price over 2.68 instead of 3.90. It will be rewarded because she failed to put in place a share option system.
The traffic gridlock speaks for itself. Given the failure over the past three years, it is utterly predictable that we will see peak hour traffic in Dublin from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. and from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. reduced to a slow walking pace of 8 kilometres an hour from 14 kilometres an hour. Essential decisions need to be taken such as putting a single Minister in charge of transport and setting up a proper Dublin transport authority which can take charge of Operation Freeflow, the Dublin Bus subvention and all aspects of traffic management. We need someone with whom the buck stops. The Government has failed to implement the quality bus corridors and the park and ride facilities to make them work. The port tunnel has still not been constructed. There is no better example of the Government's transport policy than Luas. When it came into office, the proposal was dropped and then reinstated but with a tunnel for which money was not provided. The Government has spoken about extending it to the airport, yet by the end of its tenure in office, the lines to Tallaght and Dundrum will not have been built.
The Government is now on borrowed time. An election is the only way to clear the air. If we do not have it in the lifetime of this session, it will happen before the year is out.
(Mayo): The year 2000 has been the most violent since we established a civil society after the Civil War. To date, in less than six months, 30 people have died in violent circumstances. On the first day of the new millennium, 21 year old Dermot McKeever was shot dead in Ashbourne, County Meath, and the killing has gone on unabated since.
In January, six people lost their lives in a variety of violent circumstances. Two of the most gruesome were the killings of 19 year old Peter Murray and 20 year old Darren Clarke who were shot in the head and dumped in a canal in County Kildare because they withheld drugs money. In the first week in February a young teenager was murdered in Mahon in Cork and a young man from Donegal was stabbed to death in Ardee, County Louth. On the same day a man was stabbed to death in St. James's Hospital, Dublin. Ten days later the body of retired school teacher, Mrs. Nancy Nolan, was discovered inside the door of her home in Ballygar, County Galway. Two days later a 75 year old man was beaten to death in Athlone and, a few days later, 34 year old Joe Foran was shot dead in what was obviously a gangland killing in Finglas.
The month of March started with the especially horrific killing of an 18 month baby who was thrown into a quarry in County Louth with a rope around its neck. Ten days later a young innocent 19 year old teenager was set upon by a mob in Orwell Estate, Templeogue, and kicked to death. Thirty four year old Michael Shannon was beaten to death in Ennis, County Clare, at 4.20 a.m. on Sunday, 2 March. It is of small consolation to his family that two men were charged with his death the following day.
The country awoke on Monday, 10 April to learn that an innocent Welsh rugby fan, Dorian Vick, had died as a result of being kicked and beaten in Roscrea, County Tipperary. The following week a young woman was found strangled in Thomondgate in Limerick and an 18 year old was arrested and charged. Three days later on Holy Thursday, John Carthy was shot dead by the Garda emergency response unit at Abbeylara, County Longford. Nine weeks later we still do not know exactly what happened. We still await the report. Six days later an inmate was stabbed to death in Mountjoy Prison. The final weekend in April was particularly bloody. The second toddler killing of the year occurred when a three month old baby was stabbed in Newbridge, and the child's father was charged with murder. Patrick Neville was shot dead from behind in a gangland revenge killing at St. Michael's Estate, Inchicore. The following day, Thomas Byrne of Sheriff Street was drinking outside a pub in Summerhill when a young man walked up to him and shot him dead at point blank range.
On 4 May a man in his 80s was stabbed to death in Gurranbraher, Cork, having just returned from hospital where he had been treated for previous stab wounds. A particularly brutal killing occurred on Saturday, 13 May when Derek Benson, aged 33, was first beaten to death at Ballymun flats and then burned after his body was doused in petrol. Towards the end of May a man was stabbed to death in County Meath and, on the same day, a young man was mown down by a car after a fracas in Buncrana, County Donegal.
We had the third tragic killing of a baby on the 5th of this month when a little 18 month old was stabbed to death in Tallaght. At the other end of the age spectrum and on the same day, Patrick Logan was preparing a meal while at the same time listening to a football match between Meath and Offaly on the radio with his brother in Castlejordan, County Meath, when two young men broke into their home and demanded money. The brothers refused and Paddy was brutally beaten, suffered a heart attack and died as a result of same. The raiders only got £45. Two weeks later a man was shot dead in Limerick. The 30th killing was that of a woman in her 20s who was found dead this day last week in her flat in Inchicore with a ligature around her neck.
A record total of 30 people dead in violent circumstances in less than six months of what should be the dawning of a happy and bright new millennium is a damning indictment of the failure of the much vaunted zero tolerance promised by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform. The cure all zero tolerance of the Minister, Deputy O'Donoghue, was going to stamp out violent crime and produce a crime free society. However, under his management crimes of violence have increased dramatically. There have been 111 armed robberies in the first four months of the year. The weekly RTE "Crimeline" programme, with the assistance of the ever-present security cameras, features the huge increase in brazen smash and grab raids. Unprovoked attacks on ordinary decent law-abiding citizens have become the norm. The sustained barrage of telephone calls to the Marian Finucane programme from the victims of such attacks speaks for itself. All the while the Minister trots out official Garda statistics to bolster his contention that things are getting better when the reality is different, namely, that things are getting worse.
The Garda figures do not tell the true story. Many people do not see any point in reporting crimes because of the lack of decisive follow-up. Many crimes are not recorded, even when people make complaints. The CSO quarterly survey speaks for itself. The vast majority of people every night live in fear of attack. Too many people, particularly in isolated rural areas, have to go to bed with a shotgun at their side. What a damning indictment of this Government's crime policy.
As Deputy Yates said, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform and every other Minister should go. There is incompetence all around. The Government is in freefall. It is a dysfunctional family with dysfunctional Ministers. Thankfully, the end is nigh. The clean out is imminent, the death rattle is in the throat and we want to send for the undertaker.
Why did the Deputy not say that our colours are going to be changed to black?
I understand the embalming process started today at the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party meeting. It is quite clear we are experiencing a Government struggling masterfully to get to the line on Friday and hoping the mood of the public will change over the summer months, which will not happen. It will not happen because the people realise full well the scandals and sleaze at the heart of the Government in 2000.
The people understand the Mr. Hugh O'Flaherty case quite well. Mr. O'Flaherty was forced to resign from the Supreme Court under the threat of impeachment by the present Government. Special legislation was rushed through this House giving him an index linked pension of £40,000 per year. It was also made clear to him that he was free to engage in any form of private consultancy work he wished to undertake. It was obviously wrong to appoint this man to the board of the European Investment Bank. He did not have any banking or financial experience.
The Taoiseach should show some backbone at this stage. He should not rely on his wobbly legged backbenchers, to whom Deputy Brady referred earlier, to do the dirty work on the plinth of this House for him. He should admit that he and all the members of his Government have made a fundamental mistake and this nomination should be withdrawn forthwith. He should speak to Deputy Ardagh and the members of the Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights who yesterday did a gross disservice to the committees of this House by producing an act of closure on the debate on Mr. Hugh O'Flaherty. Why did that committee not take a leaf out of the book of Deputy Jim Mitchell's committee's conduct of the DIRT inquiry? I urge Deputy Ardagh to call a meeting of that committee and follow the example of the Committee of Public Accounts.
The widely accepted arrogance of the Minister for Finance is now being surpassed by the behaviour of the Tánaiste since the postponement of criminal charges laid against Mr. Haughey because of her intemperate and injudicious remarks. These remarks were made with a clear intent to deflect from the pressure she and her party were suffering in the immediate wake of the O'Flaherty appointment. Circuit Court judge, Kevin Haugh, said on Monday there was now a real and substantial risk of Mr. Haughey not being able to receive a fair trial. He was in no doubt that the Tánaiste had created a risk of further damage to Mr. Haughey's character. Her failure to apologise to the Irish people and to her parliamentary colleagues amounts to breathtaking arrogance, in the same mould as her colleague and best buddy, the Minister, Deputy McCreevy. The sad and sorry spectacle of the Tánaiste being secretly shunted through the basement corridors of the Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development to attend a Cabinet meeting was pathetic. There is a procedure under our standing orders for her to make a personal statement and I urge her to do so. This Government has lost its moral authority and is rapidly losing its legal authority also. It should do the decent thing and go.
I want to focus on the effect the Government's policies are having on the quality of life of many of the people of this State. The stresses and strains faced by many of our citizens are continuing to mount. We are fast becoming a society that is short on time for others and on caring for the less well off.
The number of homeless people, particularly young people and women, sleeping on our streets is increasing. That is a sad indictment of this society. The cost of housing continues to increase. Young people are being forced into the rental sector. Local authority housing waiting lists are continuing to increase. Every Member of this House has seen an increase in the number of people seeking local authority houses since the Government took office.
Parents of young children live under considerable pressure. Child care costs are continuing to rise. Last week, there were media reports that the cost of child care averages about £100 per week. The Government has done nothing to alleviate that. According to information supplied to my colleague, Deputy Frances Fitzgerald, in reply to a parliamentary question, 4,000 child care places have been lost nationally due to inspections under the Child Care Act. Those places have not been replaced. Parents of young children live daily with the stress of trying to find and fund child care. The Government has done nothing to address that.
The quality of child care must also be addressed. We hear very little about that. We hear about the increased number of child care places under the national development plan but where are they? Where is the issue of the quality of child care being addressed? The Government wants to attract women into the workplace to fill job vacancies. However, there is no focus on the quality and provision of child care. Parents of young children are not being assured their children will be catered for and that they will be able to meet their child care costs. Are we depending on the unregulated black economy? That is not good enough for our children and the future of our society.
The greatest threat to our health service is the lack of nurses and young doctors. That must be addressed. We have seen nurses, particularly in the Dublin area, voting with their feet and leaving their profession. That situation must be addressed, rather than throwing money at hospitals and Ministers announcing the spending of millions of pounds. We must focus on the lack of personnel, particularly nurses, which is one of the greatest threats to our health service.
I congratulate and welcome Deputy Healy to the House. I was also elected in a by-election in June and that December we had a new Government. I have no doubt we will have another new Government by the end of this year, although I do not know what part Deputy Healy will play in it.
I do not know where to start tonight. I will start at the top, with the Taoiseach. He reminds me of Kevin Keegan, the manager of England – a nice guy but without substance. I am amazed by the Tánaiste, Deputy Harney, the conscience of the nation and the lady who lectured us every morning. When she got up and told us what was right and wrong she reminded me of the teacher when I was going to school. I laughed yesterday morning when she had to be rushed into Agriculture House. She was not very fond of farmers and the agriculture sector, but she was relieved yesterday when she was able to get through Agriculture House. Yesterday, the Tánaiste and leader of the Progressive Democrats, who loves the microphone, RTE and being on the public airways, went into Agriculture House, where she was protected by the officials, so she could go through the back door into Government Buildings for a meeting. There is something very wrong.
I listened to Deputy Brady, who is a nice guy. I am not going to say anything about him because I like him. He is one of the backbenchers who criticised the Government this week, for which I say to him "Well done". A few of them were on RTE and all over the newspapers, including a constituency colleague of mine, going into a meeting yesterday, talking about what they would do with Mr. Hugh O'Flaherty. However, Fianna Fáil has a great PR machine and its Members on the committee did what they were told at yesterday's meeting and stated that Mr. O'Flaherty might be upset if the committee wrote to him and, therefore, he should not be asked to answer to the Houses of Parliament.
Deputy Martin Brady spoke on the issue of health. I am familiar with the case of a 22 year old man in my constituency who became ill with a virus and lost the use of one of his legs. He was waiting three weeks for a bed in Beaumont Hospital. I am also familiar with the case of a child from north Mayo whose mother cried when the child had to be flown from McHale Park, Castlebar, to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast because there was no bed available in the State. It is not acceptable that the child in question had to be flown to another jurisdiction in order to receive treatment.
Why was Deputy Healy elected to the Dáil? He was elected because the Minister for Finance, Deputy McCreevy, the Tánaiste, the Taoiseach and the Government are arrogant and are intent on attacking the sick, the weak and the unemployed. Social welfare officers are informing claimants that there are jobs available, that they must take up employment and that a letter which states that a person is actively seeking work will no longer be acceptable.
The Deputy's time is concluded.
It could not be concluded.
The clock says it is concluded.
This arrogant Government was taught a lesson last week. I will not object if I am obliged to knock on people's doors in County Mayo next week as a result of an election being called because I know that, like Margaret Thatcher, they will say "Out, out, out". The Government will soon be leaving office and its Members will find themselves on this side of the House.
With regard to Deputy Ring's comments about Deputy Martin Brady, Deputy Brady could not but be a decent fellow because he has Cavan blood in his veins.
When addressing a meeting of the Joint Committee on Enterprise and Small Business, the Tánaiste stated that she had not had time to examine the Competition Authority's report on under-cost selling because of other distractions. That is a clear admission that a senior Government Minister, because of the distraction of the Hugh O'Flaherty affair, is not addressing the issues that affect ordinary decent people. People the length and breadth of this nation are inquiring about the hold Mr. O'Flaherty has on the Government which has allowed him to strangle its efforts to administer the country's affairs. The only man who can shed light on the situation is Hugh O'Flaherty and he should appear before a committee of the House and provide a clear statement about the hold he has on senior members of the Administration. Government backbenchers owe it to themselves to obtain such a statement because people are not impressed by recent events.
With regard to the ordinary issues under discussion, there is not a day on which people do not approach me with problems which are not being addressed by the Government. A rising tide does not lift all boats and people are being left behind. There are people on waiting lists for hip and cataract operations. I met an 84 year old man last week who was told he should return to hospital next September for his cataract operation. The poor man thought the operation would have been over and done with and that he could have enjoyed the summer sunshine. However, that was not the case and I hope he is still alive next September. This type of behaviour is not acceptable.
There is a need to refurbish the school in my locality. I receive representations on a daily basis about the replacement of furniture, the repair of leaking roofs and the provision of reading rooms. However, nothing has happened. There is also a need to provide remedial teaching services at the school for children who require additional help in order that their boats will be lifted with the rising tide. However, these children are being left behind.
I recently raised in the House the matter of providing personal assistants to young people with disabilities who are sitting their examinations and who hope to enter third level education. These individuals, who were born with their disabilities, have shown tremendous courage in their fight to succeed and they have been supported by their parents and teachers. All they are asking is for the State to provide the support services which could make all the difference in terms of improving their quality of life. However, the Government is not listening because, as the Tánaiste stated, Ministers are being obliged to deal with other distractions. If that is the case, the Government should get out and allow us to enter office and cater for the needs of those who elected us to represent them.
The Government has failed many groups during the past three years and it is time for it to leave office. The current Administration suffers from a "start again" syndrome. On each occasion a crisis arises, it asks the electorate to forget about it and to move on because there is a great deal of work to do. That has happened on so many occasions that the people of south Tipperary decided to send the Government a message which prompted it, earlier this evening, to announce that it would start again.
The Government has failed thousands of third level students. In recent days, it launched its new education grants scheme for 2000 which gives a derisory 5% increase for the coming year. This means that most third level students are obliged to live on a yearly maintenance grant of £1,775. Could the Minister of State, Deputy Hanafin, afford to live on that amount in a year? Does she believe that third level students will be able to survive on £1,775 per year? The answer is no.
The Government has penalised one particular group in County Galway, namely, student nurses. Time and again in the past six months the Government has been asked to address the blatant discrimination with which student nurses must deal. These people are not being allowed to train in their chosen profession by the Government. There is a shortage of nurses and junior doctors which means that elderly people and others who require access to health services are being denied the care to which they are entitled. It was not too long ago that the Minister of State's party erected hoardings on our roads and streets which stated that health cuts hurt the old and the people in need. That message is coming back to haunt Fianna Fáil.
The Deputy's time is exhausted.
Health, education and housing waiting lists are but three of the issues in respect of which the Government has failed. It has no record on which to face the people.
The Government is afflicted and consumed by hubris, an arrogant pride, an inability to admit mistakes, contempt for the opinions of others and, ultimately, contempt for the people who elected it to office. However, the electorate will soon have its say. That say will take the form of an act of vengeance which will culminate in the ignominious defeat of this Thatcherite Administration.
The people have seen through the spin and the hype of the Celtic tiger. The Government has tried to tell them that they have never had it so good but many people know that things have never been worse. Housing is affordable only to the very well off, rents have escalated, security of tenure is a thing of the past, hospital waiting lists are lengthening, the child care facilities on offer are appalling, traffic gridlock continues to hold sway and the public transport system is terrible, polluted air is poisoning our children, we are afflicted by a waste management crisis and our environment is going down the tubes. Allied to this is the constant stream of sleaze.
Just when people believe they cannot take any more, a further allegation of cronyism and corruption emerges. The Tánaiste stated that people will forget recent events in a few months. She obviously believes that ordinary people are going to behave like members of Fianna Fáil at a tribunal and that they will not remember. I must inform her that they will remember. They will have the hatchets out and they will be ready and waiting. The Tánaiste should remember how every Greek tragedy ends. As Deputy Ring stated, it will be a case of people saying to the Thatcherites "Out, out, out".
Like other speakers, I welcome Deputy Healy to the House. He has missed three very good years of the Government's term of office but he will be here to benefit from the two remaining years. I wish him well given that we both have our roots in the Old Bridge in Clonmel.
This Government is pursuing a very strong economic and social agenda. It has wiped out the age old problems of unemployment and emigration, solved the Northern Ireland issue, introduced the national minimum wage and responded to the needs of pensioners and social welfare recipients. This Government is in touch with real people about real issues and is solving real problems.
Listening to the Opposition, all we hear is an Opposition of personalities, an Opposition of rumour and innuendo and an Opposition of attack. That does not surprise me as the Opposition cannot attack the Government on problems of social and economic policy. Under the former Government, which comprised Members of the current Opposition, people were denied their rights. An autistic child had to go before the courts to obtain her educational rights. Members of an abused family in the west of Ireland had to go before the courts to obtain their rights, as had out of control young children. This Government is providing investment, protection and equality to all of these vulnerable people.
Tell that to Judge Kelly.
We have moved from a situation in which people were terrified of crime – I accept that more needs to be done in regard to serious crime – to a situation where crime levels have decreased by 21%.
(Interruptions).
The Minister of State, without interruption.
We have moved on from a situation in which people were paying very high taxes and where there was a shortage of teachers. While the previous Government spoke about disadvantage, this Government invested in education and in areas of disadvantage.
Why have we such high levels of illiteracy?
The previous Government created problems for young people but this Government provided facilities for young people through the youth services fund and invested in the drug task force areas. The Opposition insists on attacking people whereas this Government attacks problems. The previous Government ignored people with disabilities but this Government has ensured that people with a mental handicap now have their due dignity and right to equality.
The Government has outlined what more needs to be done. There is £40 billion to be spent under the national development plan, including £2 billion in the health area. In my own area of responsibility, the national children's strategy is due to be launched in the autumn, a strategy which will ensure that all children have the childhood they deserve and which will prepare them for adulthood. Children are going before the courts because when it was identified in 1996 that children required special care units, the Government of the day did not do anything to plan for the units, invest in them or build them. This Government put money into those areas. The building project is under way and places will come on stream from next month onwards. Those children should not be before the courts and they would not have to be in that position had the previous Government acted on the evidence available to it in 1996.
This Government will not be distracted by jeers from the sideline. It continues to work on the real problems. It continues to ensure that its policies of social inclusion work together through various Departments to ensure people will have more money in their pockets and that more resource and remedial teachers and home-school liaison workers will be provided. Over the next six years, the national development plan will ensure that everybody will benefit from our buoyant economy and that those people who return to our country will have jobs and homes to which they can return. The Government is ensuring that people will feel safe in their homes.
The policies of this Government are evidence that this is a good Government. It would be very easy to carry on the football parlance to which Deputy Ring referred. It would be very easy to listen to the jeers of the crowd. The Government does not listen to the jeers of the crowd—
The Government does not listen to anybody. The Minister of State is scoring an own goal.
—it is buoyed on by the people who are benefiting from its policies. It is buoyed on by the people who know this is a good Government. The vast majority of people do not get involved in personality attacks, rather they focus on the matters which are important to them. This Government is keeping its eye on the ball and it will continue to win the game.
The Government team has neither a captain nor vice-captain and its members are very bedraggled.
I wish to share my time with Deputies Owen and John Bruton.
Together with my Fine Gael colleagues, I have returned to this House refreshed by an intensive, three week by-election campaign in Tipperary South during which I was privileged to work with committed colleagues and to canvass in the company of an honourable party leader. Lessons were learned by all parties during the by-election campaign. The Taoiseach admitted that he learned that his party should try harder and listen more. That is the least Fianna Fáil could have learned.
The Government should now realise that the people in Tipperary South spoke for people throughout Ireland. They showed that people want honest, decent and hard-working politicians. They want an end to sleaze, an end to double speak, an end to golden circles and looking after one's own and an end to the scandals. They also want an explanation for the sleaze and the scandals. They want full explanations, not half explanations or the old Fianna Fáil mantra of "that was then, this is now and we knew nothing".
People want people accused of wrongdoing to provide answers and they want those who are found guilty to pay the price but what they get from this Government is very different. The Government is simply incapable of listening to the people. Last night's debacle in regard to the O'Flaherty affair at the Joint Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights was proof positive that Fianna Fáil is incapable of learning lessons, incapable of listening to what the people want.
The people on the doorstep want accountability. Their hopes were raised yesterday by those Deputies who spoke of accountability and their open minds. Sadly, the public's hopes were dashed when those same Deputies today reverted to the Fianna Fáil tactic of letting sleeping dogs lie. The problem with Fianna Fáil is that it is all talk although the problem with the Tánaiste is quite the opposite. She was all talk recently but we have heard little from her over the past 48 hours.
In spite of its arrogance and hype, the Government is incapable of responding to people's needs and wants. People with disabilities, their carers and advocates have been treated to lecture after lecture, announcement after announcement, launch after launch, photo-call after photo-call but have received little in real terms. How many people with disabilities or their families have had their lives transformed by real or radical action on the part of this Government? We have heard words aplenty but as the old saying goes, "fine words butter no parsnips". The reality is that people with disabilities continue to experience barriers to participation. Those barriers remain insurmountable, people are long-fingered time and again and change is painfully slow.
The building regulations signed yesterday by the Minister for the Environment and Local Government are full of exemptions and people with disabilities must now wait until December 2003 before they can be assured of receiving a local authority house suitable to their needs. This is a very sad state of affairs for a Government which promised so much but has delivered so little in real terms. It is a tragedy for those who remain excluded.
We are better off now than ever before, yet many of our citizens are denied the right to a hoist to help them out of bed. They are denied basic rights like personal assistants to help them with dressing and feeding. Their families and carers cope alone without comprehensive, responsive or accessible support from the State. St. Rita's Respite Centre in Clonmel which does sterling work can only open every second weekend due to a lack of resources. That is a disgrace in this day and age.
I recently attended the funeral of an elderly neighbour and friend in my constituency. Much to the distress of his family and friends, he died on a hospital trolley. After a lifetime of work and dedication, he was denied the final dignity of dying in a bed. No amount of Government hype can hide the sad and despicable reality of what is happening. No carefully chosen statistics can reverse the situation.
The Government is very good at spin and putting out soft focus stories but, unfortunately, it is spinning out of control. No amount of expensive PR can cover up its mistakes. It is patently obvious that the Government is in a mess and it is time for it to start listening to the people. The message is very clear, the people want it to go and it should accede to their request.
This Government is a spent force and it is time it packed its bags and presented itself to the people for their judgment. The Taoiseach makes a big fuss about saying it will have to listen to the people as if somehow this has only occurred to him because of the results in the by-election in south Tipperary. He has some cheek to insult the people in that way.
Does he not realise that he, his Government colleagues and all of us in this House are elected as representatives of the people? Heeding and listening to the people is what democracy is all about. If the Government had any decency it would present itself in the Dáil next week to deal with some of the serious issues that have arisen in the past few days such as the effect of the Tánaiste's remarks which led to the collapse indefinitely of the trial of former Taoiseach, Charles Haughey, and the refusal of the Fianna Fáil members of the Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights to support the re-examination of the Sheedy affair. Instead it cannot wait until 4.30 p.m. on Friday, 30 June so that it can scurry into hiding, away from the scrutiny of this House and the people to whom the Taoiseach says he must listen. How much more of this cynicism, incompetence and sleaze must we accept from this failed Government?
The list of failures was well outlined last night and tonight by our speakers. There are a few more I would mention. The dismal failure of the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment to put in place a workable system to ensure an adequate supply of labour may well result in the most serious damage to our economy. Announcements and press statements have not been backed up with the necessary resources to allow her Department to process speedily applications for non-EU workers. It is estimated there are 4,000 to 5,000 vacancies in the hotel and catering sector that cannot be filled by Irish workers. It is taking a minimum of eight weeks – the season will be over – to process work permit applications. The tourism industry depends on the filling of these vacancies, as do existing jobs in this sector.
The construction industry estimates it will need 15,000 to 18,000 extra workers this year, 9,000 of whom will have to come from abroad. Without an effective delivery of work permits, the capacity of the construction industry will be greatly diminished, thereby preventing it delivering the extra housing that is needed to tackle the housing crisis.
A recent survey by the Small Firms Association indicated that 91% of small companies cannot fill vacancies. The expansion plans of 71% of small companies are thus hindered and the survey, according to the director of the SFA, confirms their worst fears. The position is getting worse rather than better. If the Tánaiste was not so preoccupied looking over her shoulder to see where the next missile was coming from the Fianna Fáil ranks, both current and past, if so much of her energy was not spent and consumed rectifying her self-inflicted wounds, she could concentrate on handling her Department and the extremely serious labour supply deficiency which she has allowed to grow to crisis point.
Equally her failure to properly resource the Competition Authority with adequate staff and resources has meant we do not have an effective competition watchdog. Cartels and anti-competitive practices are adding further to our rising levels of inflation. Despite all the warnings from this side of the House and resignations from the Competition Authority being the order of the day, the Tánaiste only took action in the last month to approve additional staffing for that authority. We have been warning her that there was not adequate staff in the Office of the Director of Consumer Affairs to deal with the issues. It is only within the past 48 hours that the Government has woken up to this need.
There is no evidence after three years of this Fianna Fáil Taoiseach that he has any of the skills so well exhibited by Deputy John Bruton as Taoiseach to lead a coalition Government. There is no evidence of the leadership skills required to tackle in a coherent way the many supply requirements in our economy, housing, transport, workers, child care places, hospital services, probation and welfare services – the list is endless. If the Government was working as a united team with a skilled captain rather than as a dispirited band of mé féiners, the benefits of the good economic progress it inherited from the rainbow coalition would be more widely enjoyed by all the people in a more equitable and beneficial way. It is time for it to go and, as the bard said, stand not upon the order of your going.
Objectively, I believe, and the House and objective commentators would probably agree, a general election at this stage in the country's history is in its interests. I say this not solely for the reasons that the Government is beset by scandals and instability and that the working relationship between the two parties in Government is obviously not good. The Government's attention is clearly diverted from Government work to waiting for the next revelation that may come from either the European Investment Bank, the courts or a tribunal. The problem is the Government has implemented all the policies upon which it has agreed and has no medium-term agenda for the future.
Ireland faces a deep-seated structural problem. We have a problem on the supply side of our economy. There is a lack of supply of nurses and doctors and that is leading to far greater waiting lists than ought to be the case. There is a problem of supply of child care workers and places. That is leading to tremendous hardship for families where both partners must work to pay very high mortgages but cannot get affordable child care to do so. This leads to great stress in their lives. There is a problem with the supply of serviced land for housing and in getting such land that is available built upon. Sufficient houses are not being built. There is a dramatic undersupply of all kinds of public transport, rail links and road space for cars.
These are not problems that can be overcome by short-term solutions. The Government has been trying to come up with such solutions, waiting list packages and various short-term initiatives on all these supply side issues. The truth is the only way the inflationary problem in the economy can be overcome is if the supply side of the economy is unblocked. That requires medium to long-term planning. It requires a Government that sees itself as a development corporation, working as a unit to deal in an integrated way with all these problems because each one impacts on the other. The child care problem impacts on the traffic problem which impacts on the housing problem. It is a single problem of malfunction of an overheated economy because of deficiencies in the supply side.
I do not believe that a Government that, at most, has a year or a year and a half to run is capable intellectually, mentally or psychologically of devising and implementing a five to six year programme to deal with these problems. We need a general election now so that whoever wins will be in place as a Government capable of dealing with these profound structural problems. To be fair, these structural problems are different from those that existed when the Government was elected and most of them have taken the Government by surprise. To some extent it could be said that they are problems of success arising from the growth in the economy which had its roots in the past but which has continued. The Government is not, intellectually, in policy terms or in terms of the perspective of its mandate, looking forward and is not capable of devising this sort of programme. A Government that is preparing for an election, thinking about it and about seats and wondering if it can rely on Independents, wondering about the Tánaiste, the Taoiseach and tribunals is not the kind of Government that can undertake the kind of planning decisions, or their implementation, that this country needs.
In calling for a general election we are not simply pursuing a political agenda against the Government, though it is the role of Opposition to pursue and harry whoever is in Government. Anyone occupying these benches does that. However, at this point in our economic and social development we have a whole new set of problems to deal with – supply side and overheating problems – that a Government such as this, with a one year perspective, is intellectually incapable of dealing with. That is why we believe a general election is in the national interest.
Amendment put.
Tá
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Ahern, Michael.Ahern, Noel.Andrews, David.Ardagh, Seán.Aylward, Liam.Blaney, Harry.Brady, Johnny.Brady, Martin.Brennan, Matt.Brennan, Séamus.Briscoe, Ben.Browne, John (Wexford).Byrne, Hugh.Callely, Ivor.Carey, Pat.Collins, Michael.Cooper-Flynn, Beverley.Coughlan, Mary.Cowen, Brian.Cullen, Martin.Davern, Noel.de Valera, Síle.Dennehy, John.Doherty, Seán.Fahey, Frank.Flood, Chris.Foley, Denis.Fox, Mildred.Gildea, Thomas.Hanafin, Mary.Harney, Mary.Haughey, Seán.Healy-Rae, Jackie.Jacob, Joe.Keaveney, Cecilia.Kelleher, Billy.
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Kenneally, Brendan.Killeen, Tony.Kirk, Séamus.Kitt, Michael.Lawlor, Liam.Lenihan, Brian.Lenihan, Conor.McCreevy, Charlie.McDaid, James.McGennis, Marian.McGuinness, John.Moffatt, Thomas.Molloy, Robert.Moynihan, Donal.Moynihan, Michael.Ó Cuív, Éamon.O'Dea, Willie.O'Donnell, Liz.O'Donoghue, John.O'Flynn, Noel.O'Hanlon, Rory.O'Keeffe, Batt.O'Keeffe, Ned.O'Kennedy, Michael.O'Malley, Desmond.O'Rourke, Mary.Power, Seán.Roche, Dick.Ryan, Eoin.Smith, Brendan.Smith, Michael.Treacy, Noel.Wade, Eddie.Wallace, Dan.Wallace, Mary.Walsh, Joe.Wright, G. V.
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Níl
Ahearn, Theresa.
Allen, Bernard.
Barnes, Monica.
Barrett, Seán.
Boylan, Andrew.
Bradford, Paul.
Broughan, Thomas.
Browne, John(Carlow-Kilkenny).Bruton, John.
Bruton, Richard.
Burke, Liam.
Burke, Ulick.
Carey, Donal.
Clune, Deirdre.
Connaughton, Paul.
Cosgrave, Michael.
Coveney, Simon.
Creed, Michael.
Currie, Austin.
D'Arcy, Michael.
Deenihan, Jimmy.
Durkan, Bernard.
Enright, Thomas.
Farrelly, John.
Finucane, Michael.
Fitzgerald, Frances.
Flanagan, Charles.
Gilmore, Éamon.
Gormley, John.
Gregory, Tony.
Hayes, Brian.
Healy, Seamus.
Higgins, Jim.
Higgins, Joe.
Higgins, Michael.
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Hogan, Philip.Howlin, Brendan.Lowry, Michael.McCormack, Pádraic.McDowell, Derek.McGahon, Brendan.McGinley, Dinny.McGrath, Paul.McManus, Liz.Mitchell, Olivia.Moynihan-Cronin, Breeda.Naughten, Denis.Neville, Dan.Noonan, Michael.Ó Caoláin, CaoimhghínO'Keeffe, Jim.O'Shea, Brian.O'Sullivan, Jan.Owen, Nora.Penrose, William.Perry, John.Quinn, Ruairí.Rabbitte, Pat.Ring, Michael.Ryan, Seán.Sargent, Trevor.Shatter, Alan.Sheehan, Patrick.Shortall, Róisín.Stagg, Emmet.Stanton, David.Timmins, Billy.Upton, Mary.Wall, Jack.Yates, Ivan.
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Tellers: Tá, Deputies S. Brennan and Power; Níl, Deputies Barrett and Stagg.
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Amendment declared carried.
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Question put: “That the motion, as amended, be agreed to.”
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Tá
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Ahern, Michael.Ahern, Noel.Andrews, David.Ardagh, Seán.Aylward, Liam.Blaney, Harry.Brady, Johnny.Brady, Martin.Brennan, Matt.Brennan, Séamus.Briscoe, Ben.Browne, John (Wexford).Byrne, Hugh.Callely, Ivor.Carey, Pat.Collins, Michael.Cooper-Flynn, Beverley.Coughlan, Mary.Cowen, Brian.Cullen, Martin.Davern, Noel.de Valera, Síle.Dennehy, John.Doherty, Seán.Fahey, Frank.Flood, Chris.Foley, Denis.Fox, Mildred.Gildea, Thomas.Hanafin, Mary.Harney, Mary.Haughey, Seán.Healy-Rae, Jackie.Jacob, Joe.Keaveney, Cecilia.Kelleher, Billy.
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Kenneally, Brendan.Killeen, Tony.Kirk, Séamus.Kitt, Michael.Lawlor, Liam.Lenihan, Brian.Lenihan, Conor.McCreevy, Charlie.McDaid, James.McGennis, Marian.McGuinness, John.Moffatt, Thomas.Molloy, Robert.Moynihan, Donal.Moynihan, Michael.Ó Cuív, Éamon.O'Dea, Willie.O'Donnell, Liz.O'Donoghue, John.O'Flynn, Noel.O'Hanlon, Rory.O'Keeffe, Batt.O'Keeffe, Ned.O'Kennedy, Michael.O'Malley, Desmond.O'Rourke, Mary.Power, Seán.Roche, Dick.Ryan, Eoin.Smith, Brendan.Smith, Michael.Treacy, Noel.Wade, Eddie.Wallace, Dan.Wallace, Mary.Walsh, Joe.Wright, G. V.
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Níl
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Ahearn, Theresa.Allen, Bernard.Barnes, Monica.Barrett, Seán.Boylan, Andrew.Bradford, Paul.Broughan, Thomas.Browne, John (Carlow-Kilkenny).Bruton, John.Bruton, Richard.Burke, Liam.Burke, Ulick.Carey, Donal.Clune, Deirdre.Connaughton, Paul.Cosgrave, Michael.Coveney, Simon.Creed, Michael.Currie, Austin.D'Arcy, Michael.Deenihan, Jimmy.Durkan, Bernard.Enright, Thomas.Farrelly, John.Finucane, Michael.Fitzgerald, Frances.Flanagan, Charles.Gilmore, Éamon.Gormley, John.
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Gregory, Tony.Hayes, Brian.Healy, Seamus.Higgins, Jim.Higgins, Joe.Higgins, Michael.Hogan, Philip.Howlin, Brendan.Lowry, Michael.McCormack, Pádraic.McDowell, Derek.McGahon, Brendan.McGinley, Dinny.McGrath, Paul.McManus, Liz.Mitchell, Olivia.Moynihan-Cronin, Breeda.Naughten, Denis.Neville, Dan.Noonan, Michael.Ó Caoláin, Caoimhghín.O'Keeffe, Jim.O'Shea, Brian.O'Sullivan, Jan.Owen, Nora.Penrose, William.Perry, John.Quinn, Ruairí.Rabbitte, Pat.
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Níl–continued
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Ring, Michael.Ryan, Seán.Sargent, Trevor.Shatter, Alan.Sheehan, Patrick.Shortall, Róisín.
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Stagg, Emmet.Stanton, David.Timmins, Billy.Upton, Mary.Wall, Jack.Yates, Ivan.
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Tellers: Tá, Deputies S. Brennan and Power; Níl, Deputies Barrett and Stagg.
Question declared carried.
