As the Taoiseach is indisposed today he has asked me to read his speech on the Adjournment of Dáil Éireann and to report on the European Council held in Hanover on the 27 and 28 June 1988.
I move:
That a sum not exceeding £5,592,000 be granted to defray the charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of December, 1988, for the salaries and expenses of the Department of the Taoiseach, including certain cultural and archival activities and for payment of certain grants-in-aid.
The Programme for National Recovery is on course. We are making steady and satisfactory progress. There is, however, substantial ground still to be recovered. Final success in this battle for recovery depends on our continuing to exercise discipline and responsibility for some time yet. We cannot allow ourselves to be diverted from the main objective of giving our people a growing economy firmly based on sound finances. But there is no doubt that a return to growth and employment is coming clearly into view.
I would like everyone to understand the point we have reached and exactly where we now stand. Great progress has been made in overcoming our economic difficulties. Our financial problems have been brought under control but not resolved. We are still spending and borrowing too much in relation to what we produce and our capacity to pay. We must continue with the difficult and detailed work of controlling every aspect of Government and local authority spending until they are brought into line with the resources available.
The vital element in our present situation is confidence. The nation is recovering confidence in itself and its future. Throughout the economy confidence is returning; there is optimism, people everywhere are thinking of investing, undertaking new projects, or expanding existing ones. I want to say also that the Government are becoming increasingly confident that recovery is under way and will continue. One of the things that is helping to general this generate feeling of confidence is the endorsement of the Programme for National Recovery by the social partners. That provides a sound encouraging basis for all our economic effort.
Our approach to the problems of the nation is practical and realistic and never departs from our caring social philosophy. We face a unique situation, in terms of our financial position, our natural resources and our demographic structure, which has no obvious parellel in neighbouring countries, and we have to tackle it in our own way. We keep to certain basic principles of social solidarity, and deplore any attempts to create a divided society.
The Irish people understand perfectly well at this stage that there is no simple formula which will make all our economic problems vanish — no magic wand. It is false to suggest that massive income tax cuts, the feasibility and financing of which are entirely unexplained, are the key to recovery. I am frankly surprised after all the experiences of the last 15 years that anyone should be unrealistic enough to suggest that we award ourselves massive tax cuts before we have earned them, and that we can do in one year what it has taken others ten years to achieve.
The Programme for National Recovery represents a strategy to achieve balanced progress in relation to key objectives, the restoration of financial stability, full exploitation of development and employment opportunities and equity in both the tax system and the social services. Substantial progress has already been achieved. Restoring financial stability as a basis for satisfactory economic growth is the key objective, as we will not be able to increase employment, reduce taxation or improve living standards and social conditions without it.
We are over half way to stabilising the ratio of debt to national output. In 1985 and 1986 the State was borrowing in excess of £2 billion pounds a year, at a time when national output was growing by less than half that amount. That borrowing has now been reduced by a third to under £1,500 million. But that level of borrowing is not sustainable either. We cannot accept the situation as satisfactory until the borrowing level has been reduced to between 5 per cent and 7 per cent of GNP.
We might well, however, do better than that. Steady economic growth bringing a return to revenue buoyancy could allow a further desirable fall in the borrowing level and the gradual elimination of the current budget deficit, which remains a valid medium term objective. Other countries that had severe debt problems in the past have succeeded after a period of years in moving towards budget surplus. There is no inherent reason, if we manage our affairs properly, why Ireland should not be able to achieve the same.
The underlying purpose of stabilising the debt is to reduce progressively in real terms the amount of our resources now going to pay interest and repayments and release them for more productive and employment-generating purposes.
Considerable initial progress was made last year. The debt-GNP ratio did not rise significantly, and the foreign debt we believe, has probably been permanently stabilised vis-à-vis the level reached in 1986, barring major currency upheavals. However, we need to remind ourselves that the foreign debt at around 60 per cent of GNP is higher than in virtually any other developed country and needs to be substantially reduced. With the balance of payments now in surplus we must now examine the possibility of repaying part of our foreign debt by substituting domestic borrowing, provided that could be achieved without disrupting the domestic credit market.
If proof were needed of the growing confidence that international investors abroad have in Ireland, it can be found in investment by non-residents of hundreds of millions of pounds in domestic Government securities at the present time. When account is taken also of the top credit ratings that have been assigned to Ireland as a sovereign borrower abroad and the fine terms of our foreign borrowings that have been subsequently achieved, we can reasonably say that international confidence in Ireland's economic management has never been higher.
As far as 1988 is concerned, as the half-year Exchequer returns will show, the budget is fully on course to achieve its targets. For the second year running there is no slippage of any kind. Indeed, I am cautiously optimistic that it will be possible to make slightly faster progress in reducing Exchequer borrowing than could be anticipated at budget time, but this would not significantly reduce the continuing effort that will be required in 1989.
Deputies should be aware that the comprehensive public expenditure reviews first introduced last summer have radically altered the budget preparation process and in particular the scrutiny of public expenditure. Prior to the new procedures introduced last summer, the annual exercise of pruning the departmental Estimates was very much a matter of taking each Estimate in turn by itself and simply imposing an arbitrary reduction. Now, however, all spending programmes are fully considered, examined in detail and submitted to the test of whether they can be fully justified.
The fundamental and questioning reviews of departmental spending have shown that there is much greater scope for economies than might previously have been thought possible. Many of the economies implemented contribute to increased efficiency in the use of tax revenues and borrowed money. From every point of view, therefore, there is much to be said for retaining these procedures in the future, even after our immediate financial difficulties are overcome. The preparation of the Estimates in good time before the year commences contributes greatly to an orderly and much more sensible conduct of our financial affairs. Under previous procedures, the year was too often already under way before the Estimates were settled so that forward planning, in good time, of expenditure was greatly inhibited with the consequent result that budget expenditure targets were not met.
The suggestion that a major reduction in public expenditure would be too deflationary was completely debunked last year when we achieved the highest economic growth for a decade of up to 5 per cent. While it is too early to make firm predictions about 1988, I am reasonably confident that we will have positive economic growth this year as well, and that many of the forecasts have been unduly cautious. Already industrial production is up 19 per cent in the first quarter.
Significant reductions in taxation can accompany but should not precede improvements in the public finances, resulting in the main from reductions in expenditure. I would like to add that this is not just the position of the present Government. It was also the position of the Leader of the Opposition, when he was Minister for Finance. In the 1984 Budget he stated: "However desirable it might be to reduce taxation, this cannot be done on a significant scale, if at all, until current expenditure is reduced and the current budget deficit eliminated".
Our success last year in achieving our financial targets with some margin to spare enabled us to introduce some measure of tax relief this year, and allowed us to fulfil in one year most of the commitments made for a three-year period in the Programme for National Recovery. Further improvement will create scope for further relief, the first objective being to complete the task of putting two thirds of taxpayers back onto the standard rate which has not been the case since 1982.
The introduction of self-assessment, the extension of PRSI, the taxation of farmers on the same basis as other self-employed, the more determined collection methods now being employed and the changes in corporation tax show full commitment on the part of this Government to their undertaking in the Programme for National Recovery for tax reform in the proper sense of the term. The improvements in tax equity introduced by this Government will also help to improve the morale of all taxpayers, when they see that, increasingly, all are obliged to pay their fair share. Significant additional tax has been collected this year, by means of the package of measures including a temporary tax incentive scheme designed to speed up the collection of arrears and the establishment of a special task force of officials specialising in the collection of tax arrears. We will continue our work steadily toward a fair system in which all pay their taxes on the basis of actual income and personal circumstances and, as far as possible, on a current year basis.
We are determined to create a situation in which we will actually be able to reduce tax levels. We are convinced that the taxpayers of this country will benefit infinitely more from a real reduction in the tax they pay on the basis of general economic and financial progress, than from mere manoeuvring of the figures within the restricted confines of the same heavy and unsustainable total burden. The attempt to effect major upheavals in the tax system which are not sustained by economic growth and which maintain the present proportionately excessive total tax burden can have disastrous economic consequences.
The fall in interest rates of up to 6½ per cent in the last 15 months is in the main due to the firm action taken by the Government in the financial area. It has considerably increased the room for manoeuvre of commercial borrowers, as well as greatly easing the position of householders with mortgages. Our remarkably low level of inflation can also to a significant degree be attributed to the Government's policies of not trying to reduce Exchequer borrowing by increasing taxation but by expenditure reductions which in turn have lowered interest rates. This satisfactory rate of inflation which at less than 2 per cent is half the British rate, our significant balance of payments surplus and a stable exchange rate for the Irish pound within the EMS all contribute to the establishment for the first time in years of a favourable climate for investment.
This has led to an upturn in industrial investment and in commercial construction. Any sort of significant growth in domestic consumption has been slow to develop but there are some initial signs emerging of a pick-up in consumption this year, especially in the returns of indirect taxes, and in the increase in car registrations of 14 per cent in the first quarter. The fall in unemployment over the last six months is another indication of increased economic activity.
Suggestions of a downturn in the international economy have proved unfounded, and it looks as if growth in our principal markets will be at least fully maintained in 1988. Irish exports have continued to expand strongly after growth of 14½ per cent in 1987, and have increased by 18 per cent in the first four months of this year. Export growth was reflected in very strong growth in manufacturing output of 19 per cent in the first three months of the year. The growing trade surplus which trebled from just under £500 million to well over £1,500 million in 1987 contributed to the first balance of payments surplus in 20 years, and is a key indicator of economic health as far as the international community is concerned. The appreciation of sterling in recent months has created exceptional opportunities for us in the British market, and for the first time we have reached a position of virtual trade balance in our trade with Britain.
Despite the success of our exports to date, we must intensify our efforts. All available ways of increasing exports are being explored and exploited, not just in traditional or wider EC markets but in countries much further afield, from the Soviet Union, to China and Japan and to Australia. The licensing of export trading houses, joint ventures by State companies, the Overseas Consultancy Group, and combined marketing by companies under the auspices of CTT are all being pursued with a new vigour and determination.
The advent of the completely free market in Europe is the most important development we face internationally. By 1992 the European Community will be a single market. This is now irreversible and we must in every sector seize the vast opportunities now opening up, with complete confidence in our ability to compete successfully in this new, competitive single market.
Two main opportunities are afforded by the single market. Studies have shown that the growth of trade between members of the Community leads on the one hand to the growth of larger firms with bigger market shares and, on the other, to product differentiation and specialisation. Our strategy must be to seek opportunities under both headings. In food, for example, we should be capable of building on our already successful marketing abroad to achieve a greater share of the single market by making the right choices in structural adaptation, technological change and coherent market-led production.
In product specialisation, we are already well advanced in such sectors as electronics and data-processing equipment, pharmaceuticals and chemicals. Provided we keep abreast of technological change and market developments and continue to improve our cost environment we should be able to win an ever-increasing share of the single market.
There are other areas where our natural resources endow us with the ability to win new markets. We could become a main supplier of timber to the Community if we accelerate — as the Government intend by means of a new commercial approach to the industry — in both planting and processing. The expansion of aquaculture could give us a dominant position in that market, but we must end river and sea pollution which is a primary environmental objective of this Government.
On the other hand, we must recognise that our more traditional industries such as clothing, textiles, footwear and engineering will face more severe competition, but these industries also face more opportunities with the falling of trade barriers. The needs of these industries are clear — better management, higher productivity through technological change, better product design and specialisation and, above all, better marketing. The sectoral industrial strategies being developed under the Programme for National Recovery will concentrate on these issues and we hope to use the increased funding under the EC Structural Funds to assist in the adaptation and development required.
In international services, we have in recent years built up our expertise and knowledge in many sectors particularly in the financial and banking sector where we are now expanding rapidly outside Ireland. The single market cannot but provide us with extensive opportunities for further expansion and growth as we extend our highly sophisticated skills to a market of 320 million.
Progress towards the single market will, of course, present difficult decisions and problems as in the case of indirect tax harmonisation.
I have briefly outlined the opportunities and challenges the single market presents. We must recognise that the steady irreversible progress to a single market is one of the most remarkable developments in the history of a long divided Europe. It has grown slowly but tenaciously to building a Europe of peaceful co-operation and common economic and social purpose among the member states.
I would like to demolish any suggestion that the Government are remiss in taking all necessary measures to adapt to the emerging single market. Carefully considered, effective arrangements have been put in place which are succeeding very well in establishing and maintaining the necessary impetus.
As soon as we came into office, we recognised the crucial importance of managing our affairs and our negotiations in the EC in a coherent structured way and, accordingly, we appointed a wholetime Minister for Co-ordination of European Affairs so that there would be a clear focus at political level — as in most other member states — for the preparation and development of our EC policies.
Specifically to oversee and mastermind our preparations for the single market, there is a Committee of Ministers and Secretaries under my Chairmanship. This committee carefully prepares our negotiating position on all relevant issues and gives directions as to the measures to be taken to ensure rapid and full adaptation to the single market.
The Framework Regulation which contains the principles which will govern the allocation of the greatly-increased Structural Funds was of crucial importance and we have secured a commitment by the Commission to the doubling by 1992, as a general rule, of the Structural Funds going to the least prosperous regions in which Ireland by definition is included, provided the necessary programmes and plans are submitted.
An essential part of our preparation strategy is to have the closest possible level of co-operation and co-ordination of efforts between the Commission and our Committee of Ministers and Secretaries. Both the Government and the Commission agree that an arrangement that will ensure that we can proceed with the greatest possible amount of agreement on plans and projects would be very beneficial from both our points of view. It is essential that our respective decisions and actions be taken in a timely and strategic framework which advances the overall Community objective of cohesion and our national objectives of faster growth, greater employment and improved social conditions. Arrangements for this are in train.
We are already preparing our national development plan, which must be submitted to the Commission by the end of the year, to provide the framework for the individual programmes qualifying for the structural funds. This plan will also be broken down into sub-regional plans and this is underway.
We envisage a vigorous and active programme of measures to ensure that each sector will take the necessary steps to adapt to the new market conditions. Sectoral strategies which identify the specific problems and opportunities of each sector will be applied through regional programmes at sectoral and firm level involving Government Ministers, employers, employees and professional and vocational bodies.
On Monday next, 4 July, we shall be launching a campaign in Ireland to promote in general terms greater awareness of the programme to compete the single market by 31 December 1992. The launch will take the form of a conference in the National Conference Hall, Dublin, which I will be opening and which will be addressed by prominent international and national figures. Members of both Houses of the Oireachtas have been invited and I hope many will find it possible to attend. The conference is being co-sponsored by the Government and by the major national representative organisations associated with the Programme for National Recovery.
While a general awareness campaign is important, the real task is to ensure our adaptation to the new market conditions and opportunities by all concerned. Our campaign will not be primarily a general public relations type of exercise. It will be directly aimed at those immediately concerned, sector by sector, even firm by firm, through seminars, group meetings, lectures and demonstrations. The creation of the single market is about removing the obstacles to growth. Many of these are external consisting mainly of barriers to our penetration of markets in other member states. But we have our own obstacles to internal growth. As was recognised recently in a joint Government-ICTU statement, there is a frequent and regrettable tendency in this country as soon as development projects are proposed which could increase employment and national wealth, for some group or other to start up some form of opposition or protest without regard to our urgent need to provide economic development and employment. Of course, we must protect and preserve our amenities, our heritage and the environment, but we must keep a sense of proportion and always have regard to the fact that there are far too many unemployed and far too many emigrating and that it is only by economic progress that we can remedy that appalling situation.
Disappointment has been expressed that export growth has not so far been translated into increased employment in Ireland. This is disappointing but to some extent it was inevitable that initially industry would be taking up the slack in capacity left by a long period of recession. Nevertheless, sectoral reports do indicate that a significant number of new jobs are being created.
The fall in the unemployment figures over the last six months compared with the same months in 1987 so that they are now 10,000 below the corresponding figure in May 1987, is an encouraging development, especially in view of the reduction in the numbers employed in the public service. We must, however, to our disappointment acknowledge that emigration affects the overall number of unemployed on the live register as do other factors. But there is undoubtedly some real improvement in the figures. There is also some evidence that the number of people at work has begun to increase in some sectors of the economy, but it will be the autumn before the figures can be firmly established.
In the past 15 months there has been a strong revival in industrial investment, reflecting the better overall atmosphere. As the joint Government-ICTU statement on job creation of 18 May stated, the industrial promotion agencies are satisfied that a total of 4,000 new first time jobs were created in the first quarter of 1988, and that they are on target to create approximately 20,000 new jobs in manufacturing industry in the course of the year. This is the target set in the Programme for National Recovery. The joint Government-ICTU statement also made it clear that satisfactory progress is being made in achieving the other sectoral job targets of the programme. The streamlining of incentives so as to induce a more effective and economical use of State resources has been more than compensated for by more general improvements in the attractiveness of Ireland as a location for investment.
Significant progress has been made in reducing industrial costs. Irish electricity prices, as a result of price cuts to the industrial user, are now much more competitive, and are no longer significantly out of line with the European norm. There will be a reduction of 25 per cent to 30 per cent from 1 October in international telephone charges. Both the quality and cost of access transport has been improved. Reforms in court procedures should help to reduce insurance costs. Together with reductions in interest rates, wage moderation and low inflation, there have been major improvements in competitiveness.
The construction of the International Financial Services Centre on the Custom House Quay is now well underway. Five companies have already commenced trading, and 25 additional projects have been approved.
The construction industry has been going through a very difficult period for some years but there is now evidence of recovery in the private sector as the economy returns to a growth path based on sound public finances. Construction has commenced on the Custom House Dock centre and interest is growing in the inner city designated areas with projects like the Arthur's Quay-Patrick Street development in Limerick. The re-introduction of the section 23 initiative in this year's budget should also lead to an increase in activity in the rented apartment sector, and the decentralisation programme is well underway in ten provincial centres. The fall in interest rates will have a beneficial effect on all sectors, including the private house market.
It has long been recognised that our arterial roads system is a severe trading impediment to our economy in comparison with those of our competitors. It has been estimated that our economy suffers an annual cost penalty of £300 million by reason of our inadequate arterial road system. This Government will shortly establish a national roads authority to give a central administrative and technical impetus to creating a modern arterial road system capable of carrying efficiently not only our existing road traffic but the substantial growth that will occur as our economy expands into the future.
We are confident that, in general, we can sustain the level of expenditure necessary with the restructuring we are carrying out in the Exchequer finances, with the involvement of private funding in appropriate toll schemes and with the greatly-increased assistance which will be available from the European structural funds. Under the new arrangements, the total receipts from the funds will not only be doubled but the rate of assistance for projects, particularly infrastructural projects, will be increased. Already the Government have identified all the improvements needed and the function of the new national roads authority will be to implement our programme quickly and efficiently.
A number of State companies have had very successful results in the last year. I do not think that there has been sufficient public recognition of the major success achieved by Aer Rianta in winning the contract for the duty-free shop at Moscow Airport which opens up a wide range of possible further developments in the new climate of economic perestroika. Aer Lingus have also had excellent results and are expanding their fleet. Bord Telecom have just announced a profit for the first time. I have already referred to price cuts by the ESB and Telecom Éireann. The wisdom of the decision to retain the B & I line on stringent financial conditions was demonstrated both from a strategic point of view during the recent British seamen's strike, and in terms of improved performance. Legislation has been passed to set up a new commercial semi-State body to manage our forests. Sustained improvement in the financial performance of the semi-State sector, which should give an adequate return to the Exchequer, where possible, is essential. State companies are urged to use their resources of finance, management and technology to initiate new viable enterprises in conjunction, if necessary, with private interests.
In general Government policy and in the Programme for National Recovery there is a major emphasis on the tourist industry. We are looking to it for a major contribution to growth and employment. A further round of measures recommended by the specially constituted Tourism Task Force have been implemented in 1988. The number of overseas visitors and foreign earnings from tourism increased by 12 per cent in 1987. In the first four months of 1988 visitor numbers through the airports are up by a quarter. The air liberalisation package agreed in the EC Council last December which was strongly supported by Ireland, bilaterally agreed air fare reductions between here and Germany, and removal of the cost penalty of flying on to Ireland for visitors from Australia will all contribute to increased numbers. A number of outstanding successes by our sports stars will help to focus the attention of intending travellers on Ireland. In the joint Government/ICTU statement it was estimated that about 7,500 additional jobs equivalents had been created by the increase in tourism last year.
There is a growing preoccupation in Europe, especially in the countries bordering on the North Sea, about pollution. Our own stituation, while not as bad, cannot however give us any room for complacency. We are giving priority to dealing with the problem areas that we have, so that we can make a pollution-free environment a strong source of appeal to potential visitors and indeed for many other products, especially food.
Our farmers should have another good year in 1988. Last year the latest figures suggest that farm incomes rose by almost a third after the two bad years 1985 and 1986. The price negotiations in Brussels have been reasonably satisfactory in all the circumstances, and the decline in the beef cow herd has been reversed. The total number of sheep increased by over 11 per cent in 1987. The sharp fall in interest rates, together with high prices, has given farmers a new incentive to increase stock. A revised western package, pilot integrated programmes for rural areas and a new more effective TB eradication drive have been introduced.
We have placed a new concentration on food production and a major programme of modernising meat factories with State support is underway. Last year food exports increased by 30 per cent and there is an encouraging growth of new quality Irish products for both the home and export markets. The horticultural industry is also progressing with the new impetus given by An Bord Glas.
There is significant expansion and investment in the sea-fishing industry. Last year fish exports increased by over 30 per cent. The new Department of the Marine has begun to tackle many outstanding issues, such as legislative controls on marine pollution, the development of aquaculture and the upgrading of harbour facilities.
While there is much happening in many different sectors, I do not wish to suggest that our problems are by any means overcome. Sustained effort for expansion, of which we have only seen the beginning, is needed on a number of different fronts, if we are to achieve a decisive reduction in unemployment and emigration. But I have no doubt that improvements based on sound public finances in the different sectors will be mutually supportive in generating an accelerating momentum.
The Government brought about a major change in the formulation and administration of policy by inaugurating a system of participation in Government planning by the major economic and social interests in our community. The Programme for National Recovery was prepared in consultation with these interests and a central review committee, combining representatives of the Government and the social partners, continues to oversee and monitor the progress of the programme. This committee by their unique combination of interests united for the common purpose of improving economic and social conditions have already made important recommendations which the Government have been able to accept. The committee are in fact developing their own dynamic.
This method of working together between Government and social partners represents one of the surest guarantees for a small developing country of achieving its economic and social ambitions and as speedily as possible. Last year we had the smallest number of days lost through industrial disputes for 14 years.
We have also introduced the practice of bringing private expertise into the formulation of Government policy in selected areas. The International Financial Services Committee have done an outstanding job in formulating the proposals on which the international financial services centre is so successfully based. That committee continue to be involved actively in monitoring the progress of the centre and in providing their expertise to advance its marketing worldwide.
The tourism task force is another striking example of how a combination of public and private expertise succeeded in putting together a new package of measures to accelerate the growth of our tourist industry.
Similarly in trade and marketing we have been able to draw upon private sector marketing expertise to develop a national programme for marketing.
We think that our public administration in its size and structure must be kept continuously under review to make sure that we try new forms and methods to improve its efficiency and cost-effectiveness. In little over a year we have made some profound changes and we will continue to search out new and better ways to enable our talented and committed public servants to have at their disposal a more efficient administrative machine through which they can achieve their objectives.
For this purpose we have initiated an efficiency audit in the public service under which a group containing expertise from inside and outside the public service will examine the working methods and practices of the public service to ensure that they are the most cost-effective and cost-efficient possible. Experience in other countries, notably in Australia and the United Kingdom, has shown that substantial savings are possible by such audits, without affecting the amount and quality of service provided. I believe it will also be possible, through the work of the group, to achieve improvements in the amount and quality of particular public services and of the morale of those providing them, at no extra cost in public expenditure terms.
In addition to our work in the economic area, the Government have put through a major programme of legislation. By this summer, the Oireachtas will have enacted 29 Bills since the beginning of 1988, making a total of 64 Bills enacted since we came into office in March 1987. The Bills include very important pieces of legislation; the Courts Bill which will have an impact on insurance costs; the Data Protection Bill, necessary both for the privacy of the citizen but also for financial services; the two radio and television Bills, which enable commercial radio and an independent television channel to be set up, ending a long period of decision-making paralysis; an electricity Bill that enables the ESB to operate subsidiaries and import coal on a wholesale basis through Moneypoint; Bills to extend worker participation to certain State companies; a Bill to create a commercial forestry company; a tobacco health protection Bill; and the Adoption Bill to extend the category of children who may be legally adopted.
As Deputies will be aware, there are, of course, a number of other important pieces of legislation still going through the Dáil such as the Child Care Bill and the Video Recordings Bill, and we anticipate continued activity in the legislative programme in the autumn session. The legislative programme could not have been achieved without the co-operation of the other parties and in particular the main Opposition party. I believe it reflects credit on both Houses of the Oireachtas.
Ar ndóigh, tá cúramaí orm freisin mar Aire na Gaeltachta agus beidh cur síos á dhéanamh ar Vóta Roinn na Gaeltachta ag an Aire Stáit sa Roinn sin, an Teachta Denis Gallagher.
Is cúis sásaimh don Rialtas gur éirigh le hÚdarás na Gaeltachta cur leis an líon daoine a bhí fostaithe i dtionscail faoina scáth anuraidh. Ag deireadh na bliana 1987 bhí beagnach cúig mhíle duine fostaithe go lánaimseartha i dtionscail sa Ghaeltacht a fuair cúnamh ó Ghaeltarra Éireann nó ón Údarás. Is méadú cúig go leith faoin gcéad é ar líon na ndaoine a bhí fostaithe sna tionscail sin ag deireadh na bliana 1986. Tuigim ón Udarás go meastar go gcruthófar timpeall sé céad post nua i rith na bliana 1988. Mar sin, tá an tÚdarás agus an Ghaeltacht ag déanamh a gcuid maidir le comhlíonadh na spriocanna fostaíochta a leagadh amach sa Chlár um Théarnamh Náisiúnta.
Léirigh an Rialtas a thacaíocht athuair don Ghaeilge nuair a socraíodh i mí na Samhna seo caite ar £4 milliún ó fháltais an chrannchuir náisiúnta a chur ar fáil do thograí speisialta Gaeilge. Táim cinnte go rachaidh an cúnamh speisialta atá curtha ar fáil go mór chun leas na Gaeilge. Cheana féin tá rian an chúnaimh sin le feiceáil in imeachtaí Ghlór na nGael agus Chumann na bhFiann.
Athbhunaíodh an Comhchoiste Oireachtais don Ghaeilge anuraidh agus is breá liom go bhfuil na comhaltaí ag saothrú go dian ó shin faoin gCathaoirleach, An Seanadóir Tomás Mac Gearailt.
Tá sé fíor-thábhachtach go dtabharfadh Comhaltaí an Tí seo agus an tSeanaid dea-shampla i dtaobh na Gaeilge agus tá moltaí fiúntacha chuige sin sa dara tuarascáil ón gComhchoiste.
Tréaslaim a gcuid saothair arís le comhaltaí an Chomhchoiste agus guím rath ar an obair a bheidh idir lámha acu amach seo.
The Government have recently approved the establishment of a National Heritage Council. In broad terms, the council will have responsibility for archaeology, architecture, wildlife, landscape, heritage gardens and certain inland waterways. The council will formulate specific policy for the preservation and enhancement of this country's heritage. It will have power to act on its own initiative and through other Government agencies as appropriate. The council will be established initially on a non-statutory basis and will help to draft the legislation needed to establish it, at what I hope will be a relatively early date, as a statutory National Heritage Council.
The council will report to the Taoiseach and to facilitate this, the Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of Public Works has been appointed also to my Department as Minister of State for Heritage Affairs. The Government have appointed Lord Killanin as chairman of the council and I am sure the House will recognise in the appointment of so distinguished a person and one with such experience of administration how seriously we regard the work of the new council. We will shortly announce the full membership of the council.
More active and more positive policy initiatives are now urgently needed if we are to pass on intact to future generations the physical heritage entrusted to us. I am confident that these new arrangements will result in a more positive, integrated approach to national heritage matters. The work of the council will complement the work of State agencies, concerned individuals, voluntary organisations and local authorities. I know that the creation of the council will be welcomed by all sides of the House.
I wish to avail of this opportunity to report on the European Council which I attended in Hanover on 27 and 28 June.
The Council dealt, essentially, with the internal market and its social dimension, economic and monetary questions and the protection of the environment. We also discussed political co-operation items.
During my visit to Hanover I had a very useful meeting with the President of the Commission, Mr. Delors, on matters of mutual interest to Ireland and the Community. I would like to take the opportunity here to convey to him our congratulations on his reappointment as President of the Commission, which was agreed to unanimously, and our best wishes for his new term of office. I also met the British Prime Minister, Mrs. Thatcher, at the end of the Council.
There was a definable sense of optimism and confidence among all the members of the Council. A momentum has developed in the affairs of the Community which is unique in my experience. As the first paragraph of the Presidency Conclusions, which I have arranged to lay before the House, indicates, the Council takes the view that the process of the completion of the internal market where goods, services, persons and capital can move freely in a market, without frontiers, has now reached the point where it is irreversible.
In 1986, the total domestic product of the European Community was, according to Commission sources, the equivalent of approximately 3.5 trillion dollars. In the same year the domestic product of the United States was approximately 4.2 trillion dollars and that of Japan just over 2 trillion dollars. The Community is among the largest economic entities in the world but within its boundaries there are serious obstacles to trade and business of a type from which its competitors do not suffer, which prevent Europe from reaching its full potential either as a market or as a source of technological innovation.
The cost of these obstacles — or alternatively the benefit of a complete internal market — is calculated at between 4.25 per cent and 6.5 per cent of the Community's gross national product. In other words, when we speak of the completion of the internal market, we are speaking of a benefit to its member states and to the people of Europe estimated to be the equivalent of between 175 and 255 billion ECUs or eight to 11 times the total gross national product of Ireland.
The obstacles cover such things as customs formalities, standards for products, exchange rates, the movement of citizens, professional qualifications and a multitude of regulations and limitations on individual freedom or on competition. The Commission proposals to cut through this regulatory tangle are contained in nearly 300 different drafts or directives. Of these, 101 are completed or agreed in principle. The rest remain to be considered.
The Hanover Council took note that by the end of 1988 the Commission will have submitted the bulk of its proposals with the objective of completing the market by 1992. The Council also noted with satisfaction that decisions have been taken in such strategic areas as the full liberalisation of capital movements, the mutual recognition of diplomas, the opening up of public contracts, insurance matters and road and air transport. They agreed that decisions should be taken as soon as possible in relation to public contracts, banks and other financial services, the approximation of standards and intellectual property.
At the Council, I raised the two aspects of the proposals for the completion of the market which are of particular concern to us. The first is the proposal for the harmonisation of taxes within the Community. As these are framed at present, there could, in relation to the indirect taxes alone, be a loss to the Irish Exchequer running into hundreds of millions. With the public finances in their present state this is not a situation we could contemplate with equanimity.
Next, there is a danger that the completion of the market could set in motion irresistible centripetal forces, concentrating people and wealth to an even greater extent than at present, in the central areas of the Community, to the detriment of the peripheral regions. The need for support of these regions is recognised in the Single European Act and I was involved with other members in ensuring that the Conclusions of the Council took note of the need for the successful implementation of the provisions of the Single European Act on cohesion.
The Council taking up the question of progressive realisation of economic and monetary union decided to establish a committee to propose concrete stages leading towards this union. The committee is to be chaired by Mr. Delors, President of the Commission, and to have as members the Governors of the Central Banks of the Community who will act on the committee in their personal capacities. The committee will also include Commission member Andriessen and three experts, Mr. Thygesen, Professor of Economics, Copenhagen, Mr. Lamfalussy, Director-General of the Bank for International Settlements in Basle, and Mr. Miguel Boyer, President of the Banco Exterior de Espana. The committee is to report to the Ministers for Finance and Economic Affairs, in time to enable the European Council, at its Madrid meeting in June 1989, to consider its results.
Against the background of the unacceptably high level of unemployment in the Community, the Council emphasised the importance of sustained economic growth of the internal market in increasing employment and living standards of all Community citizens. The Council also laid particular stress on the need for the improvement of working conditions and the standard of living of wage earners. Of importance to this country is the fact that improved access to vocational training mentioned in the Conclusions includes work experience programmes.
Indicative of the high degree of social concern expressed in Hanover, is the Conclusion relating to the protection of the environment. There is an invitation to the Commission and the Council to intensify efforts to improve the means to combat and prevent air and water pollution. The Hanover Council welcomed the Conclusions of the Toronto Summit — dealing also with the ozone layer and acid rain — and emphasised that environmental considerations must be integrated into all areas of economic policy-making.
The President, Chancellor Kohl, and other members expressed concern that technology developments in communications and especially in the audio-visual media are, increasingly, exerting pressures on regional languages, customs and cultures. I stressed the need to cultivate and encourage access to the richness and diversity of European culture. This intervention was followed by a particularly powerful and moving address by President Mitterrand who spoke eloquently on Europe's cultural needs and particularly the need to preserve all aspects of that culture as part of the cultural heritage of mankind. He singled out for special mention the Irish and Flemish languages.
On political co-operation items, the Council welcomed the new dynamic in East-West relations. I personally am more than glad to place on record here the conclusions recorded after the recent Reagan-Gorbachev Summit that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought — and the disavowal of the Superpowers of any intention to achieve military superiority. The inference from this conclusion is particularly important in the area of disarmament.
On the Middle East, the Council expressed the view that the status quo in the occupied territories cannot be sustained. It reaffirmed the support of the Twelve for an international peace conference and repeated its support for UNIFIL in appealing for the immediate release of the hostages in the Lebanon.
In expressing its concern for the Sharpeville Six, the Council urged that all possibilities should be availed of to prevent the death penalty from being carried out. In view of Nelson Mandela's impending 70th birthday, the Council called for his release and that of other political prisoners.
At the end of the Council, I had a serious and thorough meeting, which lasted slightly more than an hour, with the British Prime Minister, Mrs. Thatcher. We discussed a broad range of current issues in Anglo-Irish relations and reviewed the operation of the Anglo-Irish Agreement. We also noted that a great deal of useful work had been done at recent meetings of the Inter-governmental Conference.
We reaffirmed our total commitment to the agreement and our intention to continue to work closely together in accordance with its terms. We placed on record our full determination to defeat those who seek to advance political aims by violent means; and our intention to maintain, and further strengthen wherever possible, our wholehearted co-operation against terrorism, which has done and is doing so much damage and causing so much suffering to the people of these islands.
The success of the Hanover Council is a tribute to the energy and dedication of the German Presidency in the person of Chancellor Kohl, Foreign Minister Genscher and their officials who used every opportunity to engender a new spirit in the Community and give it a new impetus. The Council had the great advantage that it did not have before it controversial issues like quotas, prices, acreages and subsidies, which occupied so much time in previous Councils. The Council was thus able to devote time to discussing social, cultural and related matters like the environment. These discussions were interesting, valuable and stimulating and there was a surprising degree of unanimity in regard to them and on the kind of Europe we would all like to see emerging. I joined with every other participant in congratulating the German Presidency on the outstanding success of their work and the way in which they had carried through the onerous responsibilities at this and at every other Council during their period of office.
As we adjourn for the Summer recess, I am in a position to report to the House that progress is being made. The difficulties and challenges are being faced. Our programme is on course. But a lot of steady, unremitting work is still needed, until we can put our difficulties safely behind us. We must sustain what we are doing, not allow ourselves to be distracted from our goal. The result should be a wider and improved level of prosperity and security, and a wide range and an adequate level of opportunities at home for young people coming out of school and college in a few year's time. That is our objective for the nineties.
