Vol. 526 No. 3
I move:
That, subject to leave being given to introduce the following Supplementary Estimate for the service of the year ending 31 December 2000, the Supplementary Estimate be referred to the Select Committee on Finance and the Public Service pursuant to Standing Order 145(3) and paragraph (1)(a)(ii) of that committee's orders of reference:–
Vote 6 – Office of the Minister for Finance (Second Supplementary Estimate).
The speech of the Minister and that of the main spokespersons for Fine Gael, Labour and each other Member called upon shall not exceed five minutes in each case.
The purpose of this Supplementary Estimate is to provide for the funding of technical assistance for the two regional operational programmes in the national development plan and the community support framework.
The establishment orders for the regional authorities and regional assemblies provide that the Minister for Finance may recoup to the authorities and assemblies, costs related to the carrying out of their EU functions. In the 1994-99 programming period, expenditure on the regional authority EU operational committees and related costs were recouped on a quarterly basis by the Department of Finance. These costs were paid from the community support framework technical assistance operational programme and were charged to subhead L of the vote of the Department of Finance.
In the negotiations earlier this year on the Community Support Framework 2000 – 2006, my Department proposed to the European Commission that the recoupment of the EU costs of the newly created regional assemblies should be provided for on a similar basis to that which operated for the regional authorities in the 1994-99 period, that is, from CSF technical assistance. The European Commission, while accepting the principle that the EU costs of the regional assemblies and the existing regional authorities should be funded from technical assistance, expressed a preference for such costs to be met from a separate technical assistance budget within each of the regional operational programmes. We agreed to this Commission proposal.
Accordingly, to give effect to the new arrangement and to introduce greater transparency from a financial accounting perspective, I propose in this Supplementary Estimate to create a new subhead within the Department of Finance Vote for funding technical assistance in regional operational programmes. This will cover costs in relation to monitoring, information and publicity and the mid-term evaluation of the regional operational programmes, and the eligible costs of the EU operational committees of the regional authorities in the S&E and BMW regions.
On the basis of previous annual expenditure and claims so far this year by the regional authorities, as well as the expenditure arising in connection with the monitoring of the regional operational programmes, the regional assemblies estimates for technical assistance costs in 2000 is £280,000 rising to £560,000 in 2001.
Since it is expected that there will be sufficient savings elsewhere in the Vote for my Department to meet the expenditure arising this year, I propose at this stage to seek the approval of the Dáil for a token Supplementary Estimate of £1,000 and to arrange for expenditure from the subhead to be met from the savings arising.
The gross amount will be provided in the Vote and will be advanced to the regional assemblies quarterly, on the basis of returns of the previous quarter's expenditure and estimates for the following quarter. The expenditure will be co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund at an aid rate of 75% and 50% in the Border, midlands and west, and southern and eastern regions respectively.
The other costs of the regional assemblies will be funded directly by the constituent local authorities in proportion to their respective populations.
I use this opportunity to pay tribute to the excellent work done by the assemblies since their establishment over one year ago. The assemblies, in their role as managing authority for the two regional operational programmes, have participated in the negotiation and agreement with the European Commission of the Community Support Framework for Ireland. They have subsequently been directly engaged, assisted by my Department, in negotiating the regional operational programmes with the European Commission. I am pleased to report that the two regional operational programmes will be formally signed by Commissioner Barnier in Brussels in the presence of regional assembly representatives next Monday.
In recent weeks the regional assemblies have also concluded the preparations for and secured the approval of their operational programme monitoring committee to the programme complements for the regional operational programmes. The programme complements set out at measure level the detailed operational arrangements, including project selection criteria. This rate of progress in the relatively short period since their establishment is testimony to the good co-operation which has been developed between the regional assemblies and central Departments and State bodies and augurs well for the future.
I take this opportunity to briefly refute some misleading commentary on progress under the national development plan made in the wake of the publication of the Estimates for 2001 last week. Certain commentators equated the relatively small level of savings anticipated in the 2000 public capital programme with lack of progress on the infrastructural programme in the national development plan. This is an incorrect deduction. In key national development plan infrastructural areas such as roads, public transport and environmental services, 2000 expenditure is generally in line with the targets when the national development plan was published one year ago. Expenditure is behind plan profile in some areas of the production sector operational programme such as research and development and industrial promotion grants. These underspends in 2000 will not undermine the achievement of the national development plan objectives in the areas in question. The reality is that national development plan infrastructural expenditure is generally on track and the 2001 Estimates provisions will ensure the momentum is maintained.
(Mayo): I welcome the Supplementary Estimate because the devolution of power and responsibility to the regions should be welcomed. The purpose of the Supplementary Estimate is to fund the new regional authorities directly from the Department of Finance. I hope the way is now clear for the first time for badly needed jobs to flow to the west, midlands and Border counties. In spite of all the hype and expectations about what Objective One status would do, there has been no change in the economic circumstances of the west, north-west and midlands. New jobs continue to be created primarily in the east, adding to congestion and the unhealthy economic imbalance which has been the position for far too long. There has been the occasional jobs announcement for areas outside the pale, invariably in the larger provincial growth centres, thus allowing the starvation of the rural hinterland to continue.
The rhetoric of the Tánaiste, the IDA and Forbairt about jobs dispersal to the regions is seen for what it is. The annual reports of the IDA and Forbairt stand all such aspirations on their heads. While I welcome today's announcement of 800 jobs for Cavan, the Tánaiste's comment that it is the first significant jobs announcement by the IDA for Cavan in the past 22 years is extremely significant. Cavan, Monaghan, Donegal and other counties in the west and midlands have a lot of catching up to do. Without infrastructure, one will not attract jobs. There is an infrastructural deficit in these regions. It is hopelessly inadequate.
Let me give an example. If an industry of any significance wishing to locate in the west or north-west demanded a reasonable power supply, it could not be supplied. The Electricity Supply Board confirmed that this is the situation when I met it recently. Irrespective of the goodwill of the Government and the IDA, power could not be supplied from the grid for a significant industry wishing to locate between Galway and Cavan. This matter is not being addressed.
In the north-west the service has been perilously close to collapse on more than one occasion. Not alone have we had amber alerts, we have had red alerts. There are two emergency generators in the former Asahi plant in Killala rented by the ESB for six months from General Electric in the United States at a cost of $20 million, and a further three in Aghada in County Cork. There has been no forward planning in relation to the need for generating capacity and upgrading of the grid in these regions.
I remain sceptical about the Government's intentions towards the west, midlands and Border counties. Fortuitously, the Corrib gas field off Achill Head will come on stream as the Old Head of Kinsale gas field begins to dry up. It is a hugely significant find, guaranteeing a gas supply for consumers and industry for the next 20 to 25 years. In spite of this, there has not been a scintilla of coherent thinking in the national development plan about its development to create lasting and sustainable jobs and industry in the region, which has been starved of jobs for generations and has seen its natural resources bled to create jobs elsewhere. So much for planning.
Regional authorities are a fine concept provided they are not talking shops or rubber stamps for the purpose of disbursing moneys for designs and plans drawn on drawing boards outside the regions. Real power is what is required. For far too long the regions were bled white by emigration. Now they are being bled by migration. Nothing has changed. What is needed is a coherent development plan providing for investment in infrastructure and jobs. Jobs are the magnet and the anchor. One can have all the aspirations in the world, but without jobs in the regions congestion in Dublin and the east will continue and the lifestyle of the west will continue to be wiped out.
I do not want to be too negative. The money is welcome, as are the regional assemblies. What is needed are regional authorities with teeth, bite, money and decision-making powers.
I concur with everything Deputy Higgins said. He took my powder. I also welcome the Supplementary Estimate for the regional authorities. I am sure that Deputies Higgins and Burke will agree that we have all the plans we want in place for the west, what is needed is action. As Deputy Higgins said, the IDA has failed the west. I have lost confidence in it for many years. It has done nothing to promote or attract jobs to the west. It is Dublin based and thinks only in terms of Dublin. I hope today's jobs announcement for Cavan will be the first of many for the west, midlands and Border counties.
Deputy Higgins referred to the power grid in the west. Last year, on new year's eve, when a large number of people arrived in Achill for the holiday weekend there was a power surge with the result that the entire structure collapsed. This cannot continue. Each time there has been a storm or a flock of birds has flown overhead in recent winters in north Mayo there has been a power cut and the people have suffered as a result.
This is the first time there has been a gas find off the north-west coast. There has been talk of a line from north Mayo to Galway to pipe the gas to the North and England. Once more, the people of Mayo and the west will suffer at a time when it should have the opportunity for the first time to attract industrialists from all over the world to the region with the promise of natural gas on line at a cheaper cost than electricity. I hope this opportunity will not be wasted.
Since his appointment the Minister has travelled to the west on many occasions. He is a man for whom I have much time. The Minister has travelled from Longford to Charlestown. That road is our greatest national scandal. Deputy Higgins and I travel it three or four times a week, as does Deputy Moffatt. If an industrialist were considering investing in the west of Ireland he would have to bear in mind that he, his wife and his directors would have to travel that road every week or month and would immediately decide not to invest in the west.
The National Roads Authority and the Minister should give the west a small advantage. There is no infrastructure between Longford and Charlestown. The Minister should direct the National Roads Authority to complete the road next year, instead of the daft planned date of 2014 or 2015, and give us the opportunity to attract people to the west of Ireland.
This Supplementary Estimate arises from the unusual decision the Government took last year to invent regions which had not existed previously. The purpose of that decision was to deal with the management of European funding.
The problem, however, is that this country does not have a regional policy. Look at the range of regional structures. There is a different regional structure for every function. The new regional authorities are a manufactured entity for the purposes of European funding. They do not have any other function or purpose. There are also regional authorities which were established on the basis of local government entities, that is, groupings of existing local authorities established as regional authorities. Their functions are limited. The most recent task they were given relates to the waste management strategies to be adopted in different areas.
There is a different regional structure for the delivery of health services. There is another regional structure under the IDA and its associated agencies for industrial development while there are other structures for tourism and fisheries. For every function of Government there is a different regional structure and none of the boundaries of their regions correspond. That is not a regional policy; it is chaos. The Minister for Finance is dealing with this Supplementary Estimate but it is properly the function of the Minister for the Environment and Local Government to rationalise the regional structures. We either have regional authorities which have a wide range of functions and co-ordinate economic and infrastructural development across a region in a real sense or we stop the pretence that we have a regional policy. At present, we do not have a regional policy.
The lack of regional policy or regionalism, if one can use that term, is also to be found in the approach to the development of the national development plan and the fact that two years after that plan was published there is now talk about the development of a national spatial strategy. That is putting the cart before the horse. The national spatial strategy should have been developed first and investment options and strategy should have been based on that.
There has been a tendency, which is probably understandable, to have a degree of competitive talking in relation to regions. One part of the country might talk about another part of the country getting all the investment and resources. The part of the country that is supposed to be getting all the investment and resources in turn might believe that within its boundaries there are high levels of deprivation and disadvantage which are being ignored because of an emphasis on geography and on other parts of the country. However, we live in a new era. In many respects, geographic location is not as important as it was when telecommunications, transport and so forth were of a different order. People can now communicate irrespective of where they are located and there are huge new possibilities in relation in transport. Issues such as investment, location of industry and services, where people live and how they communicate with each other have changed. The approach to regional policy, therefore, must be changed to reflect that.
New types of problems are emerging. One of the issues which has, rightly, been raised by representatives from areas of the country which were regarded as geographically peripheral from the centre and the capital related to the lack of investment. There is a new problem and it relates not so much to the lack of investment as to inappropriate investment. This was discussed in the context of the debate on the Planning and Development Bill. It arose with regard to development in Gaeltacht areas. The remoteness which at one time inhibited development or investment is now the reason inappropriate investment and development are occurring. There are, therefore, new problems which need to be tackled in a new way.
The main problem is that we do not have a regional policy. This Estimate, unfortunately, is a carry over from an ad hoc decision which is part of a pattern of ad hoc decisions in relation to all regional policy here.
I welcome this Supplementary Estimate. The west of Ireland has sufficient plans and structures in place. What we need now is action and concrete proof that the west is getting its fair share.
We regularly hear that hackneyed phrase, "the Celtic tiger". Every person in east Galway, including business people, will tell the Minister that they have not benefited from the Celtic tiger. The pilot scheme for the upper Shannon region was wonderful and there were downstream benefits from it. East Galway is located in the middle Shannon basin and east of Galway city. Galway is the hub of the action; it is the country's fastest growing city and I welcome that. East Galway is also north of SFADCo, the Shannon development zone, and to the east is Athlone, another area that is prospering. To the north is the upper Shannon region which I already mentioned.
However, there has not been development or job creation in east Galway. The IDA has forgotten the area. I attended a subcommittee meeting this morning which discussed the unbundling of Eircom. I have the greatest sympathy for Eircom on this issue, where predators are coming in from outside, assisted by Government Departments. The IDA, Forfás and the Department are encouraging outsiders to come in while at the same time creating an impossible situation for Eircom. There will be cherry picking of the main areas of the market by these other providers while Eircom will be left to provide services to isolated areas in rural County Galway and the west. This is unfair. Ms Doyle should balance the market. I am not sure there is much sympathy in her brief in regard to ensuring a level playing pitch for all providers involved in the provision of a communications system for the west.
I ask the Minister to seriously consider providing the middle Shannon region with the facilities, entitlements and benefits from which the upper Shannon region benefited enormously in a short period due to his action. I call on him to provide a similar pilot scheme for the middle Shannon region so that people recognise such development is in response to a Government initiative.
The IDA should be made realise that not one IDA assisted job was created in Ballinasloe in the past 25 years. The same applies to Loughrea, Gort and Athenry, all in east Galway. Why is that the case? The IDA is centred in Galway and will continue to focus on locating industry there while the rest of the region goes without.
There are plans for the gas pipeline and major national routes to pass through the region. I would like the Minister to clarify the position regarding compensation for the landowners who will be affected by such works. We have been told that An Bord Gáis will pay £33 per metre in compensation to the farmers through whose lands the pipeline will run. Will that be taxed at the full rate? If it is, farmers will receive much less than that proposed. Local authorities are currently mandated to compensate landowners at the rate of £8,000 per acre. Given the upward swing in the price of agricultural land, is that a realistic figure, particularly when one considers the damage that will be done by carving up farmers' lands and farming units? It is not. I hope the Minister and his colleague, the Minister for the Environment and Local Government, Deputy Dempsey, will revisit the matter of compensation to enable the plans to succeed and the deadlines to be met, which we hope they will be, to draw down the funds to provide those facilities under the national plan.
Not to be outdone by my western colleagues and friends, I want to put in my oar and tuppence worth for the Border region, the most deprived region in the country. The region has borne the brunt of the Ulster troubles over the past 30 years without recognition from any Government, including those of which my party was a member. At one stage, the region almost withered to extinction. I congratulate the Minister on his efforts in the past few years and ask him for increased spending in that region, as it has fallen behind over the years due to the problems I illustrated.
While Dundalk has experienced some of the benefits of the Celtic tiger in recent times, there are concerns about a major industry there, and another footwear industry, in what was the home of footwear, has been reduced to 20 workers. There are concerns about several industries in Dundalk. I ask the Minister to consider the Dundalk region for the purposes of investment. There has been no major investment in Ardee for the past 20 years to 30 years. There are also serious concerns about rising unemployment in Drogheda.
Notwithstanding the Dunleer bypass, the Border region and the west have fallen behind other parts of the country in the provision of flyovers and improved roads. The Border region has not had its fair share of public spending. I ask the Minister to ensure that funding is provided for the much needed western bypass, which would link Newry with Dundalk and ultimately join up with the major roadway to Dublin. Increased spending is required in an area that was ravaged by unemployment in recent years. Thankfully, the position is not as bad as it was, but we need increased spending to bring it up to par with other regions.
I agree with Deputy Gilmore who called for a real regional basis to be established rather than the current structure, under which we simply avail of EU funding, welcome as it is, that goes into the coffers of the Department of Finance. Each region needs a specific policy, but the needs of the Border and the west should be the Government's priority.
As the 30 minutes allocated for this motion has expired, I must put the question.
Can I not say anything?
The House decided that 30 minutes would be allowed for this debate and that time has now expired.
I spent three and a half years doing work on regional development.
The Chair must abide by the decision of the House.
I regret that I do not have the opportunity to contribute to the debate, that I have been stifled.
It was not the Chair but the House who decided on the time allocated for this debate and the Chair must implement the House's decisions.
