Tairgim:
Go gcomhaontóidh Dáil Éireann leis an Taoiseach d'ainmniú an Teachta Micheál Mac Gabhann, Aire Stáit ag an Roinn Fuinnimh, chun a cheaptha ag an Uachtarán mar Chomhalta den Rialtas.
I move:
That Dáil Éireann approve the nomination by the Taoiseach of Deputy Michael Smith, Minister of State at the Department of Energy, for appointment by the President to be a Member of the Government.
A Cheann Comhairle, before going on to deal with this motion, I wish to inform the Dáil that the Minister for Finance, Deputy Ray MacSharry, has tendered his resignation as a member of the Government, with effect from 10 a.m. today upon his forthcoming appointment as a member of the Commission of the European Communities. The President, on my advice, has accepted Deputy MacSharry's resignation.
I would expect that Members of this House would wish to join with me in wishing every success to Ray MacSharry in his new office, for which his past experience so well qualifies him. It is my confident expectation that both Ireland and Europe will gain from the energy, dedication and ability of our new Commissioner.
I should like also to pay tribute to Ireland's present member of the Commission, Mr. Peter Sutherland, S.C., for the outstanding contribution he has made over the past four years to the development of the Community and the enhancement of Ireland's reputation in Europe. On behalf of the Government, and on my own behalf, I wish him and his wife and family every success and happiness in the future.
Consequent on Mr. MacSharry's resignation, I intend subject to the present motion being approved,
(1) to assign the Department of Finance to Deputy Albert Reynolds,
(2) to terminate the assignment of Deputy Reynolds to the Department of Industry and Commerce and to assign that Department to Deputy Ray Burke, and
(3) to terminate the assignment to Deputy Burke of the Department of Energy and to assign that Department to Deputy Michael Smith, Minister of State at the Department of Energy.
Under these proposals, Deputy Burke will retain responsibility for the Department of Communications. He will, therefore, continue to oversee the work of An Post and Bord Telecom and, more particularly, of the new Independent Radio and Television Commission in its initial and developmental stages. He will also be in a position to co-ordinate the communications functions generally with industry and commerce, of which communications and its technologies are now so vital an element.
During the next three years as the Single Market takes shape there will be certainly in this country a large concentration on the improvement and development of the economic and social infrastructure.
I believe that it will be essential that we use the resources available to us either from domestic or European sources to the greatest possible economic advantage. Planning and co-ordination will, therefore, have to be of the highest order. Accordingly, I am allocating to the Minister for the Environment, Deputy Padraig Flynn, an overall responsibility for this area.
He will be expected to take an overview of the overall situation, ensure the comprehensive nature of our approach and identify and eliminate any duplication of facilities or the omission of basic requirements in particular areas. It will be Deputy Flynn's responsiblity to see that the changes take place, without administrative delays, as rapidly as is economically feasible and that developments in the different sectors are consistent with each other.
The changes which I am making in the Government following the resignation of the Minister for Finance on his appointment as Ireland's EC Commissioner are of a limited nature.
There are excellent reasons why this should be so. The present Government since taking office have performed effectively and achieved results because they have acted as a united, co-ordinated administration. We have achieved a great deal because there has been clarity of purpose on broadly agreed objectives in a prevailing supportive atmosphere. It is my firm intention to continue in that spirit and to maintain a clear line of Government policy toward which all our efforts will be co-ordinated and directed. We must also seek to sustain the greatest degree of understanding and support among the general public for that line of policy. The problems facing the country in regard to the public finances and the level of unemployment continue to be of such magnitude and such central important that they must be confronted with persistence and a single-minded determination.
The achievement of national recovery has been the overriding economic and political goal of this Government since taking office. The crisis in the public finances, falling growth and rising unemployment demanded immediate action. A major step toward recovery was the preparation and adoption of the Programme for National Recovery which set out in detail the objectives for the public finances and the development of the economy for the period to the end of 1990. The programme continues to provide the framework for the major degree of economic and social progress achieved to date. This year the actual outturn in the public finances will be exceptionally favourable, mainly because of the tax amnesty.
The overall improvement in the general economic and fiscal climate has been remarkable; lower interest rates, greatly reduced inflation and a major reduction in Government borrowing have brought an entirely new atmosphere to the market place. In the different sectors of the economy there are indications of a new vitality, a willingness to look at new projects and new investment. The general public are conscious of this overall improvement in the economic outlook; they can see the dramatic improvement coming through in our relations with the outside world, with reduced borrowing, and a major trading and balance of payments surplus. We must not, however, allow these many favourable developments to obscure the deep difficulties in our basic position that still remain. We still carry a national debt of £25 billion which costs about £2 billion of taxpayers' money every year to service. To reduce that national debt relative to our national output and the burden it represents to our taxpayers every year, must be an essential priority. Any responsible Irish Government must continue unremittingly to follow through with our financial objectives and to bring the level of debt into reasonable relationship with what we produce and can afford to pay. Achievement of this objective requires continued and unrelenting discipline on Government spending and borrowing. While we are moving in the right direction it cannot be too clearly emphasised that the effort and the discipline must be maintained without relaxation or deviation.
I am glad to have this opportunity of assuring the House that this Fianna Fáil administration is right on course and up-to-date with their work for national recovery. Right around the world there is increasingly favourable comment about the progress which the Irish economy is making — low inflation, low interest rates, increased investment. It is appreciated that the Irish Government are making steady and consistent progress towards the economic goals which they have set themselves.
Nineteen-eighty-eight will record many significant achievements in the different areas and provide a good base from which future progress can be made. We must continue within the stringent budgetary constraints imposed upon us to seek to identify the possibilities for progress and development. Work is well advanced on the 1989 budget and this work must be co-ordinated and dovetailed with the opportunities which will be available under the Delors package for the completion of the Single European Market. I believe that if this work is done properly we will have a unique opportunity to bring about a major and lasting improvement in the basic structure of the Irish economy.
Next year's budget, therefore, will be of great significance and far-reaching importance. It will have to be related directly to our internal economic and financial realities continuing the corrective process in the public finances while at the same time being geared in a way that will enable us to take full advantage of the new resources available from Europe.
The provision for private investment in projects of public interest and the provision for intervention rates of up to 75 per cent make many desirable new projects feasible. This will make it possible to increase the level of public investment without adversely affecting the public finances. The mechanism for deploying these increased structural funds will be the development plan now being formulated in consultation with the social partners which will set out programmes and priorities at national level for EC assistance and the framework for the sub-national programmes. The public and private sectors will be required to work in partnership to ensure that we obtain maximum advantage from the enlarged funds.
The Programme for National Recovery negotiated with the social partners will continue to be the overriding framework of economic policy. The European Plan drawn up under the Delors package will be a valuable enhancement of the development aspects of the programme in supplementing investment, training and rural development, which are designed to increase employment, and steadily improve the economic infrastructure over the medium term. The Joint Declaration by President Delors and myself made it clear that the Government here and the Commission have now agreed to work together in a structured partnership to develop the inherent potential of the Irish economy. For this purpose, we have established a framework of co-operation and consultation between the Government's EC Committee of Ministers and Secretaries over which I preside and a Task Force on the Commission side headed by President Delors. The intention is that the President and I will meet regularly to set strategic objectives and review developments. The Development Plan to be submitted to the Commission supplementing the Programme for National Recovery will give us the opportunity to create over the next four years a unique infrastructural transformation, which will also provide increased employment. This will gear us to achieve fully the vigorous expansion of our trade in the greatly increased European market. A vigorous nationwide campaign has been successful in spreading awareness of 1992.
The Government's whole Programme for National Recovery is based on the principle of building a broad social consensus, to which the different sectors make a firm commitment. We already have a consensus for at least another two years, which is working successfully. Our programme is comprehensive and broadly based, covering not just the public finances, but containing a specific commitment to create employment, improve social equity and relieve personal taxation. We thus have a firm framework for further sustained progress in economic and social development, which commands widespread confidence.
Of fundamental significance is that employment is at last increasing again, by 6,000 between April 1987 and April 1988. The private services sector is growing particularly strongly while manufacturing employment has stabilised. In the manufacturing sector, we are on course to achieve 20,000 new jobs for the year, and there are many exciting new projects in the pipeline. Informed commentators are also predicting that the construction industry is set for a strong revival.
Our monitoring of the employment objectives of the Programmes for National Recovery shows significant new job creation in a variety of sectors. Our specific development policies, supported by our broader economic management strategy, are yielding positive employment results. The Central Review Committee of the Programme for National Recovery will be publishing in a few days a sectoral and geographical breakdown of these jobs and some indications of trends in 1989 and 1990.
The economy is now growing strongly. Last year GNP increased by 5 per cent and the increase this year could be a further 2 per cent, despite severe reductions in Government spending. Independent economic commentators such as the ESRI are now forecasting that the Irish economy will grow by as much as 3 per cent in 1989. This will be the third successive year in which growth has occurred in the Irish economy and gives grounds for conviction that the Irish economy is back on a sustained growth path after a long period of stagnation.
The foundations for recovery have been successfully laid. We are now moving into a phase, in which the emphasis will be on economic growth, and a partnership for growth, partnership with the European Community and with the social partners.
There is a much better atmosphere abroad among the general public; a more positive feeling about the country and its prospects. 1987 and 1988 have been years, when our performance has been exceptional in many respects. 1989 offers further opportunities in many different sectors and with a major sustained effort we can go a long way in putting permanently behind us the difficulties that have made life so difficult and depressing for so many during the eighties.
We have done as much more in a short space of time as could have been expected of any Government. The benefits of clear policy objectives and a consistent determined approach to our problems is now clearly perceived. The reorganisation of the Government I have announced today is to accommodate necessary changes while ensuring that the successful thrust of Government economic and financial policy continues uninterrupted.
