asked the Minister for Finance if it is proposed to publish a comprehensive report on why the Second Programme for Economic Expansion did not achieve its targets, particularly with regard to its employment projections; and what defects there were in the programme.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Economic Expansion Programmes.
40.
As already announced, a comprehensive review of progress under the Second Programme will be published next spring. It will examine in detail the causes of deviation between targets and performance.
That should be interesting.
41.
asked the Minister for Finance if he will further elaborate on his remarks on television that there was an over-concentration on the arithmetic of the Second Programme for Economic Expansion; what changes in this respect will be made in the third programme; if specific targets will be incorporated in the third programme; and, if not, the purpose of the economic programme.
I would refer the Deputy on this subject to my speech in Drogheda on 27 November, 1967, when I said:
In order to focus attention on the main problems which must be solved if full employment is to be achieved, the new Programme will give less prominence than the present one to detailed quantification and will lay more emphasis on strategic policies such as industrial development, manpower policy, training, investment, and methods of implementing the Programme. Quantification is, of course, essential if national targets are to be established and progress in subsequent years measured against expectations. This purpose can be achieved by limiting the published quantifications to the main economic variables; as a minimum these must include, on the one hand, gross national product and its main constituents such as industry, agriculture and services, and, on the other, gross national expenditure and its main constituents such as private and public consumption and investment. Preoccupation with figures, however, must not be allowed to divert attention from the main task of policy formulation and implementation.
Could we have that again, slowly, in English?
Great things are happening in our time, there is no doubt about it.
42.
asked the Minister for Finance if in the drafting of the Third Programme for Economic Expansion there will be consultation with the relevant vocational and industrial organisations; and if in the drafting of the agricultural sector of the programme the agricultural organisations will be consulted.
There will be the fullest possible degree of consultation with interested parties.
43.
asked the Minister for Finance if he will specify the proposed duration of the Third Programme for Economic Expansion.
44.
asked the Minister for Finance what assumptions regarding this country's foreign trading relations will govern the Third Programme for Economic Expansion.
45.
asked the Minister for Finance if the assumption of the Second Programme for Economic Expansion that in the seven year period 1964 to 1970, 60,000 people will leave the land and the rate of rural depopulation will continue thus, indefinitely, will also underlie the third programme.
46.
asked the Minister for Finance if the Third Programme for Economic Expansion will contain regional programmes; if the various regional and county plans now being devised under the Local Government (Planning and Development) Act, 1963, will be correlated and synthesised within the third programme; and what policies regarding growth centres, etc., will govern the third programme.
47.
asked the Minister for Finance if the Third Programme for Economic Expansion will include development projections and plans for the semi-State bodies; and, if so, if the Government will undertake to ensure that the targets for this sector will be met.
48.
asked the Minister for Finance if it is proposed to include a social programme in the Third Programme for Economic Expansion; if so, why; and how it is proposed to ensure achievement of this social programme.
49.
asked the Minister for Finance if the Third Programme for Economic Expansion will provide for social capital investment to satisfy the need for houses and hospitals throughout the country.
50.
asked the Minister for Finance if the social aspect of the third programme will contain targets for social capital expenditure and for current expenditure on social welfare items.
51.
asked the Minister for Finance if the Third Programme for Economic Expansion will embody a manpower policy, an incomes policy and a credit policy which were not included in the first and second programme.
With your permission, a Cheann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 43 to 51 together.
Preparatory work on the Third Programme is still at an early stage. It is not possible at this point of time to indicate with finality the scope or duration of the new programme, nor would it be appropriate to do so by means of replies to a series of detailed Parliamentary Questions. It is clear, however, from the work which has already proceeded, that the new Programme will cover a number of areas that were not dealt with in the Second Programme. As soon as conclusions can be drawn from the preparatory work, a general comprehensive statement will be issued.