Micheál Martin
Question:1. Deputy Micheál Martin asked the Taoiseach the way in which he has filled the position left vacant following the departure of his economic policy adviser. [38479/16]
View answerTuesday, 13 December 2016
Questions (1, 2)
Gerry Adams
Question:2. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Taoiseach if he has appointed a new chief economic adviser. [39815/16]
View answerOral answers (14 contributions)
I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 and 2 together.
Following the resignation of my economic adviser last September, I reviewed the allocation of certain responsibilities within my office. Two of my special advisers will continue their work on policy and programme implementation within my office with some additional responsibilities. To reflect their added responsibility, I have revised their working titles to special adviser for policy and programme implementation.
The Taoiseach has previously said that we are facing incredibly challenging economic circumstances. The position I was talking about leaving vacant is that of economic adviser who has moved on to perhaps greener pastures. With Brexit coming down the line, questioning our relations with multinational companies and various domestic pressures, the Taoiseach will agree it is not time for business as usual. There are very serious challenges. When the Taoiseach filled this particular economic adviser role back in 2011, he said it was central to co-ordinating work across Government. As we discovered after the election, it was a role which at times appeared to carry more authority than many senior members of Fine Gael. Can the Taoiseach explain to me how the co-ordination of economic policy is now to be done within the Taoiseach's Department, particularly given the enormous challenges of Brexit, enterprise strategy and related issues? How many people will work in the economic area within the Taoiseach's Department?
Is it his intention to publish a White Paper on economic strategy? The only reason I put that question is because it seems to me that following the Brexit decision and the clear evidence that the Trump administration will mean America becoming more isolated and protectionist, we are looking at the prospect of a world that is becoming more protectionist and less amenable to a liberal trading environment. Ultimately, that will be injurious to Irish economic fortunes because we depend significantly on trading our goods and services all over the world. That is the key to our capacity to generate wealth and prosperity for the country. It is often forgotten about here and neglected by many commentators who decry every trade agreement that is ever signed, such as the Canadian trade agreement.
I have heard very little affirmation from anybody on the left, for example, that Ireland should seek international agreements that increase access to markets for our goods and services. Such things are critical to the future of Ireland and have been part of our industrial strategy since the late 1950s and early 1960s when Seán Lemass and T. K. Whitaker engineered a fundamental change in our economic perspectives, making the country more outward looking in its approach to industry, investment and trade.
There is a danger, in the current globalised context, of that changing. Brexit is a fundamental change in our economic structure. It will be a permanent change, if and when it comes about. It is not a passing phase nor a recession but something that permanently alters the structure of the economic model which we have had for 50 years. I do not get the sense that there is a strong economic co-ordinating capacity in the Department of the Taoiseach since the decision of the previous economic adviser to move on to other areas. The Taoiseach might indicate how he sees the challenge of co-ordinating economic policy and he might give more information on his intention to publish a White Paper.
There is enough time to take individual questions.
If I understand the Taoiseach's answer, he has not yet filled the position of social economic adviser. Am I right?
The Deputy is right.
The Taoiseach has previously said that this is a crucial position. We are still in economic difficulties and many citizens across every sector are under huge economic pressure. There is a housing and homelessness emergency and pressure in the public services, especially the health services. Brexit will not ease those economic difficulties but will increase them and the entire construct of successive Government policies will change. I do not know whether there is someone who could bring a focus to these issues or whether the Taoiseach should consider filling this position because his record on all these issues has been extremely poor. At the least, he needs to give us an explanation as to why a post which he said was absolutely crucial has not been filled, notwithstanding the difficulties we have and which may well worsen in the time ahead.
This question will be redundant if the Taoiseach does not appoint a new economic adviser, but if he does so, I ask that it be at the appropriate salary scale and will not breach the current levels. The former economic adviser was gifted over €60,000 in excess of the salary cap for such appointments, as was the case with others appointed by Labour Party Ministers in the previous Government. I welcome that new guidelines on advisers' salary scales have been brought in by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and there is now a different level of transparency. If the Taoiseach does not intend to fill this post, why is that? If he changes his mind, will it be at the appropriate salary scale and will he ensure the salary will not breach the guidelines?
I share other Deputies' surprise that the person who vacated this role has not been replaced. I know how pivotal the former economic adviser was to Government policy formation in the past five years. When the 2011 Government was formed, the economy was at the heart of everything we did and we established the Economic Management Council as a core vehicle for the analysis of economic decisions. The previous economic advisers to the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste played a crucial role for our country in that period. I do not see that things have altered so remarkably for a very senior economic adviser to the Taoiseach not to be warranted, even though we have made significant economic improvement in the past five years.
Cheap publicity can always be had for comments that we should pay somebody at a lower rate, but to get people of the calibre we need, to match wits with the World Bank and the IMF, the European Commission and the ECB, we need people of calibre. I do not believe the public service should be denuded of people of calibre and I have had this debate with Sinn Féin in the past when that party was arguing against decent salaries in the health service, a hook it got off when its members realised it was not sustainable. We need to be realistic about public service pay if we want to get people of calibre. For the economic strategising that needs to inform the decision-making of the Taoiseach, the Government and this House, we need people with independent, trained economic minds to be available to us. We established the independent economic evaluation unit within the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform over the past five years and there are now more than 100 economists trained in economic analysis across the public service. Is it that the Taoiseach has not yet appointed an economic adviser or is it that he does not intend to appoint one?
I thank Members for their support in this important issue. As Deputy Howlin pointed out, when the previous Government was appointed in 2011, the situation was well-nigh catastrophic economically. Both of the people to whom he referred were quite extraordinary. I have rarely met anybody of the calibre and quality of my own party's nominee as economic adviser. He is capable of running any of the institutions Deputy Howlin mentioned and has a particularly strong, trained economic mind. It was important that there be a balance between the Department of the Taoiseach and the other two Departments, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and the Department of Finance. I have looked to replace that person but it is well-nigh impossible. It is not that I have given up. Instead, I have reassigned responsibilities in the area of policy and programme implementation.
We have a very close relationship with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and the Department of Finance and it would be through the Department of Finance that a White Paper would come to Government. Deputies will be aware of the changed situation in which there is now a spring economic statement. Bodies such as the national economic forum, the independent Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, the ESRI and other institutions put forward economic views and perceptions but the Government would adopt a White Paper on the basis of what would come from the Department of Finance. Any appointment would have to be commensurate with the ability of which I have spoken, and Deputy Howlin is correct that if one looks for somebody with an exceptional capacity, one has to remunerate them accordingly. It is true to say that cheap publicity can be gained by saying a person is being paid such an amount for doing a job.
This is about our country. It is about maintaining steady management of the economy in very difficult times. As Deputy Martin pointed out, Brexit will not go away. It will have implications for us all on this island. The new Administration in America will have global implications. In this sense, it is important that we understand that in a partnership situation, this entity requires different thinking, different consultation and different support in order to keep it moving in the interests of the country. This is an important consideration. It is not that I have decided not to make an appointment. The particular kind of person we need is not that easy to find. In the meantime, I have reassigned responsibilities to two very capable people who are working on policy and programme implementation.
I take from the Taoiseach's reply that he has endeavoured to secure a replacement for his economic adviser and that he is on the hunt for, or that there is a vacancy for, an economic adviser if the right person comes along but that so far he has not been in a position to secure a suitable replacement. Is this because of salary issues? Is it perhaps because of a worry about the longevity of the Government, given the antics of the Taoiseach's Independent colleagues? Sorry, I withdraw that. We will not use the word "antics", but the-----
Unpredictability.
I thank Deputy Howlin. Yes, the unpredictability or, may I say, volatility from time to time of certain members of the Independent Alliance, the Minister of State present, Deputy Canney, excepted. It is clear the Taoiseach has been seeking a replacement. It is important that there is a broader economic perspective on this because the challenges are so fundamental that they require a fundamental rethink of enterprise strategy, our economic model, our industrialisation policy vis-à-vis small-to-medium-sized companies and a greater role for such and the degree to which our economy is fit for purpose in a more isolationist and protectionist post-Brexit world.
I have an offer to make. If the Taoiseach were prepared to change his policy, we could lend him Deputy Pearse Doherty or some of our economic advisers, who would advise him properly, point him in a different direction and really bring in new politics.
The Taoiseach already has a propaganda Minister.
I have given consideration to the Deputy's offer and have decided not to go down that road.
Enterprise strategy is absolutely critical. It was discussed just yesterday at a Cabinet sub-committee. We recently saw the publication of the report by the National Competitiveness Council on dealing with competitiveness and productivity, which is critical. The lack of a replacement adviser so far has nothing to do with the longevity of the Government. We have a very fine supply and confidence agreement with Fianna Fáil, a three-year programme with a review to be carried out at the end of 2018. The Government will honour all the commitments in the agreement, as required by the agreement. We understand the different ways in which Government must now decide how things can move forward. We are on the look-out for a replacement adviser. One never knows: the fact that the Deputies have raised the matter today might bear fruit very quickly.