asked the Minister for Finance if the Government propose to publish a comprehensive plan for economic development; and, if so, when they propose to do so.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Economic Development Plan.
4.
In answer to Parliamentary Question No. 15 on 17 November I drew the Deputy's attention to the reply given by the Taoiseach to Parliamentary Question No. 7 on 19 October 1983. I should like to remind the Deputy of the answers given by the Taoiseach yesterday in response to related questions.
As indicated in October and yesterday, the National Planning Board are working on a draft medium-term plan for the economy which will provide the framework within which short-term economic and social planning will proceed. I understand that the draft plan will be available to the Government by the end of March next. The Government will then be in a position to produce a medium-term planning framework which will set out the kinds of action needed to attain national objectives. It would be premature to say when this will be published but it is hoped that it will be earlier rather than later this year.
The Minister indicated publicly that the budget should not be over-emphasised as an instrument of economic policy, that there are broader issues of policy outside of it and I should like to know if he will acknowledge that it is high time we had a comprehensive plan for national renewal and development. It is time we had that plan, particularly in relation to, for instance, the development of our resources — agriculture, fisheries, forestry — and the necessary expenditure to develop these resources. A comprehensive plan for investment in education in this era of technology is also necessary. Those obvious and self-evident things will not be dealt with in a budget and may not be covered in the considerations being made by the various committees. Will the Minister acknowledge that it is vital that we do this work immediately to give a signal to our people of the general direction of the Government? In the absence of that our people are waiting and wondering what the opportunities are for renewal and development. Will the Minister ensure that such a comprehensive plan is prepared as a matter of extreme urgency so that people can respond to it, if it has some positive elements?
I have been as clear as anybody could wish me to be about the Government's intention to produce during the course of the year, earlier rather than later, a medium-term comprehensive plan which will set out the direction in which we need to go and which will set out the way in which we should deal with our problems. As I informed the Deputy during the course of an aside on the Order of Business yesterday, it will be one on which the Government will not turn their backs a couple of months after its publication.
This is argument.
I will avoid responding to that.
It is cool and calculated and the way it looks it will produce the results.
If the Minister wishes to engage in such point scoring he can do so but he has responsibility. Will the Minister recognise that the key to such a plan will be to improve the climate for investment? Will the Minister agree that the rise in unemployment is directly linked to the fall in investment? The Minister must recognise that we must have a clear direction from the Government as to how to encourage investment. In that connection I should like to draw the Minister's attention to a statement from a churchman which appears in today's newspapers. I am not saying that churchmen are experts but when one feels obliged to say that the jobs problem is linked with the exodus of capital from Ireland we must take note. I hope the Minister does not accuse that churchman, as he accused me yesterday, of undermining confidence in the country. Does the Minister not agree that it is vitally important to improve the investment climate by tax incentives, to give signposts to the efforts to deal with the pressing question of unemployment? Will the Minister tackle the fall in investment as a major priority in the plan he has been talking about?
I cannot add anything to what I have said now and on other ocasions about the medium-term plan which we propose to bring forward. The Deputy knows my feelings on the issues such a plan should tackle and the necessity to base that plan on a clear analysis of the difficulties we face, the opportunities before us and the constraints we have to overcome.
And the direction. We have had enough analyses and problems. Is there a direction, a signpost? That is what we are looking for?
I have no doubt and never have had about the direction we require. If Deputy O'Kennedy is wondering about the direction, that is his problem.
I do not see it nor does anybody else.
Will the House get an opportunity to debate this plan? Will he give his estimate as to whether that will be before or after the summer recess? I asked the Taoiseach yesterday if the employment section of the plan could be brought forward to tackle the emergency facing the country today.
The Deputy can be sure that when the Government produce a medium-term plan there will be every opportunity for a full discussion on it in the House. As the Taoiseach told the Deputy yesterday, this is a medium-term plan and it would be inappropriate to bring forward now, in the extreme pressure of circumstances, any part of that plan to respond to short-term difficulties, particularly when we have already in hand arrangements for responding to the maximum of our capacity to short-term exigencies as they appear.
Will it be before or after the summer recess?
As I said in reply to the original question, I cannot give an exact date when the plan will be published. It will be at the earliest possible moment.
No estimate, no commitment, no jobs.