Brendan Howlin
Question:10. Deputy Brendan Howlin asked the Taoiseach the number of Cabinet committees he has attended since June 2018. [41075/18]
View answerTuesday, 13 November 2018
Questions (10, 11)
Mary Lou McDonald
Question:11. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the number of Cabinet committee meetings he has attended since June 2018. [43709/18]
View answerOral answers (38 contributions)
I propose to take Questions Nos. 10 and 11 together.
It is a totally factual answer.
I have chaired five Cabinet committee meetings since June 2018. Cabinet committee B, social policy and public services, met on 7 June and 22 October. Cabinet committee C, European Union, met on 21 June. Cabinet committee A, economy, met on 9 July and 12 November. Cabinet committee D, infrastructure, is scheduled to meet on Thursday, 15 November.
Factual answers are important. In the previous Administration, much work was done through Cabinet sub-committees which usually met for a full day. I know it is the Taoiseach's practice that more work is done at full Cabinet meetings rather than at Cabinet sub-committee meetings. However, that means one has long agendas.
Does the infrastructure committee deal with the national broadband plan? We went through a hiatus on one of the most important infrastructure projects in the State because of the resignation of the former Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment. The Taoiseach himself has described the roll-out of broadband as analogous to the rural electrification programme. What has happened on this? Has a Cabinet sub-committee discussed the national broadband plan? Where are we now with the review of the integrity of the plan's process to date? When will proposals be brought back here?
Tens of thousands of people living in my constituency and throughout the country are desperately anxious to know when they will have access to broadband. This is one of the areas one would imagine a bespoke Cabinet sub-committee would be set up to bring in all the officials concerned from across various Departments to ensure there is a full and vigorous evaluation completed of the process to date, what needs to be done to mend the fatally damaged hand of the Government and how we proceed.
I am not sure at which committee the idea was floated by the Minister of State, Deputy D’Arcy, that the Government would consider a referendum to override judicial discretion in the awarding of compensation claims if judges do not reduce injury payouts over the next two years. The cost of insurance working group, which the same Minister of State chairs, published its seventh progress report yesterday which highlighted, again, the Government’s failure to set up an insurance fraud unit. This sums up the Government's overall failure to tackle the insurance rip-off. Yesterday, we were told that the Garda Commissioner has yet to form a view on the proposal and that several issues will require further consideration before any decision to proceed is taken. This is a disjointed and messy set of messages coming from the Government. Will the Taoiseach afford us some clarity on the matter?
When the old system of Cabinet committees was changed and replaced with, allegedly, much broader mandates, we were told this was to enable a more dynamic and active role from the committees. The opposite seems to have happened. I agree with Deputy Howlin that the reality is that many of the committees meet rarely. It cannot be argued that the Cabinet committees play any substantive role in moving policy forward. If one looks at two critical issues, health and broadband, there is no evidence that the relevant committees have made any impact. They have only met several times this year.
The last time he was challenged on this, the Taoiseach said he liked to raise issues at full Cabinet meetings. That would mean brief and limited papers being prepared, as well as brief discussions. There would be none of the more detailed discussions which were the norm with Cabinet sub-committees of the previous genre. Previously, there would have been a full afternoon on a particular topic.
It would also be attended by all relevant officials.
Yes, all relevant officials would have been available.
Relevant Ministers also attended and that is how well functioning Cabinet committees worked. The infrastructure committee met once at the start of the year and will meet once or twice this year. Is the Taoiseach happy that this represents adequate strategic oversight of an issue like broadband? Given the growing shambles and incoherence in relation to rural broadband, which is now the subject of a personal crusade of the Taoiseach, how has Cabinet been carrying out its oversight role, in particular in view of how rarely the matter has been discussed at Cabinet-committee level? It is a real issue given what we are now learning about costs being multiples of what was originally understood as well as in relation to what transpired over the last five to six weeks with certain meetings. One gets the distinct sense that the Cabinet's eye was off the ball in relation to rural broadband and that there was no Cabinet committee which was on top of the issue.
The failure of the Government to deliver social and council housing for people on housing lists or in homelessness hubs is well known. What discussions has the Taoiseach had, which sub-committee deals with it and to what extent does the Taoiseach have a handle on the issue of affordability for those whose incomes are above the eligibility threshold but too low to get a bank loan? Yesterday, for example, I had a distraught mother telling me about her son and daughter-in-law. Her son is highly qualified and works for a telecommunications company. He cycles all the way from Ballybrack to Dundrum every day and gets a reasonable wage while his wife works as a hairdresser. They applied for the Rebuilding Ireland home loan scheme but were refused without explanation. They have their deposit and a clean credit rating but they were refused. That mother simply asked me if the scheme was a scam. If someone like her son and his wife, making the efforts they have made to get themselves educated and working, cannot get this scheme, who can? How could they possibly be turned down? She went on to say that her research shows that 67% of applications for the Rebuilding Ireland home loan scheme are being refused. Can the Taoiseach confirm that?
That is correct.
It is a shocker. What is the Government doing? What sort of scheme is that to help those who cannot get on the housing list and yet have absolutely no chance of being able to afford a home on the open market?
It was never designed to give people access.
It is extraordinary. Does the Taoiseach have a handle on this? Does he understand it? What does he have to say to that distraught mother and her son?
To comment on the last point, I produced a similar case to the Taoiseach not long ago of a tradesman married to a hairdresser with her own business. Their only child is ten years old which means their childcare costs are not as high. They meet all the criteria and yet they have been turned down.
Some time ago, I asked the Taoiseach about meetings of the Cabinet committee on security and related issues, including An Garda Síochána, and on the report on the future of policing. The Taoiseach told me that he had a different style as Head of Government, which is fair enough, and that he did not like having Cabinet sub-committees. He prefers to have reports like that discussed by the Cabinet as a whole. That is fine and it has always happened. However, I asked him in a follow-up question what had happened and he said the report was noted. Since then, I have seen no evidence that the report has been acted on. From my experience with a report as detailed as the one on the future of policing, I cannot see how progress on the detailed list of actions can be discussed other than at some kind of sub-committee. It is at a sub-committee that detailed actions can be commissioned by the Taoiseach for the implementation of this vital report. In our constituency, people are complaining strongly that they simply do not see enough community policing which is at the heart of the proposals in the report on the future of policing.
The Taoiseach may not be aware of it, but in the last five minutes, RTÉ has broken the news that a text has been agreed between UK and EU negotiators. It was agreed last night at 9 p.m. and, as such, the Taoiseach is probably aware of it. Apropos the response to Deputy Burton's earlier question, the Taoiseach might comment on that. The text was agreed last night at 9 p.m.
Has that just broken now?
There are often things in the media that are reported-----
Tony Connolly gets it right.
Obviously, I have been here for the last two hours and I have not spoken to my officials or been able to speak to them in that time. I was asked about working mechanisms and it is always sensible to be flexible in that regard and practical about how one decides to operate Government business. As Members have acknowledged and unlike the case with previous Governments, I have focused on involving the whole Cabinet in decision making as far as is practical. Today, for example, we spent an hour on Brexit. While Cabinet committees include officials and advisors, they often exclude Ministers. I like to do more things with Ministers than was the case in the past and often hold bilateral or trilateral meetings, in particular around health and housing. These meetings involve me, the line Minister and another relevant Minister, usually the Minister for Finance. We also use the Cabinet committees. For example, we decided specifically in regard to the O'Toole report on the future of policing that the Cabinet would note it and agree to its publication and that the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Flanagan, would come back to the Cabinet sub-committee with a reasoned response to it and an implementation plan. On that occasion, the right approach was that it should be noted by Cabinet and published and then referred to the Cabinet sub-committee for further consideration.
The infrastructure committee, which is sub-committee D, covers the national broadband plan and I receive a report every two weeks on the progress being made. On Thursday, we will have a meeting of that Cabinet sub-committee to deal with two major issues, namely housing and the implementation of Project Ireland 2040, respectively. The latter discussion will include broadband. There are two steps to come in the national broadband plan. The first involves the report of Peter Smyth on the process and whether it has been okay.
When is that due?
It is imminent. I do not have an exact date, but it is imminent. The second matter is the making of a decision on the bid. We will have to take into account the costs, timelines and practicality in deciding whether to go ahead.
What is the review saying?
I have not seen it. As I said, it has not arrived yet but it is imminent. There are no proposals for a referendum on compensation payments currently. I acknowledge in this context the work done by the Minister of State, Deputy Michael D'Arcy, and his predecessor, the current Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, which has had results. For example, motor insurance premiums peaked in 2016, having risen very steeply, and they have now fallen by 20%. Much of that is down to the work led by those Deputies. Health insurance costs had been increasing very rapidly under previous Governments but they have levelled off and even fallen in the last year or two. Much of that is down to the legislation we introduced on lifetime community rating, which has worked. It is legislation I brought through the House and which has made a difference to health insurance costs which had been rising every year for I do not know how long. They have now levelled off and actually fallen for VHI customers.
On affordability, I am advised that approximately 1,000 Rebuilding Ireland home loans have already been approved, which is a not insubstantial number.
However, 20,000 have been refused.
Under the rules one has to have been refused by a bank or credit institution but one must also be able to afford to pay the loan back. That is a prerequisite of any loan. There have been a lot of complaints, however, including at least six to me from my constituency. It is a new product and 1,000 people have already qualified for it, but it may be the case that it can be improved. That is something the Department is working on.
Deputy O'Dea has 106 cases.
What about the report on the future of policing?
I dealt with that but the Deputy was not listening. She was chatting. It is on the record.
We have just over one minute remaining for the third batch of questions and I will take the Taoiseach's response.
Perhaps the Taoiseach might speak on the text of the EU agreement.
Should we not invite the Taoiseach to say something on Brexit and how we will be briefed?
I do not know how Deputies can expect the Taoiseach to comment on a matter on which he has not been briefed.
We discussed the issue in the context of the previous group of questions and the Taoiseach stated that he would revert to us.
On what is the Deputy stating that I will revert to the House?
The agreement that was reached last night.
What are the Deputies asking the Taoiseach to do?
I ask that we be briefed on any agreement which has been reached.
I have been in the Chamber for the past two hours and ten minutes. I have yet to be briefed on the developments.
It is unreasonable to expect the Taoiseach to comment on a matter on which he has not been briefed.
RTÉ reported that the text of the agreement was agreed at 9 o'clock last night. Perhaps that is incorrect.