Before I start, I, too, want to acknowledge and thank Tony for his incredible public service over so many years as an usher and also as a member of An Garda Síochána. I wish him well in his retirement with his family. I appreciate everything he has done in his contribution to the Houses of the Oireachtas over so many years.
I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak on the programme for Government. It is an ambitious, detailed and progressive document which recognises the challenges our country faces but also clearly sets out the opportunities we have to transform our economy and society and to fundamentally improve the living standards for the more than five million people in our country. Crucially, it sets out how this Government will deliver for families, businesses and communities all over Ireland through the next five years. The measures contained in the programme give effect to the outcome of the 2024 general election. The American author Simon Sinek once said that leadership is not about the next election; it is about the next generation. That philosophy is clearly at the heart of this document. The measures reflect what the Irish people voted for and the direction in which they want to see our country progress into the future. When fully implemented, the measures in the programme for Government will also set about a step change in how we deliver essential public services to our citizens, how we scale up our public infrastructure investment and how we fully utilise the rapid change in technology to improve living standards, cut costs and decarbonise our society for the decades and generations to come.
This is my first time to address the Thirty-fourth Dáil. I congratulate all Deputies who were elected by their constituents, particularly those who were elected for the first time. It is the greatest honour of my lifetime to continue to represent the people of Dublin West. I have no doubt it is the same for everyone else here in the House. Serving and representing the people who voted for us and those who did not is why we are all here. The people should always be at the centre of all of the decisions we make in this House. Delivering for people is at the centre of this programme, which I am proud to have worked on with colleagues in recent weeks. Election 2024 came about more than 100 years after the first election in the new Irish Free State. Similar to the situation more than a century ago, election 2024 was fought at a time of profound global and economic uncertainty, as well as deep political upheaval, all of which pose significant risks for our people, our communities and our country. The Irish people faced a choice in the election and they chose stable, responsible Government with progress across the key areas that matter: public services, infrastructure delivery, helping workers and families with the cost of living and supporting businesses.
From my own perspective, I travelled across the country engaging with people from all walks of life who outlined their concerns and their hopes for the future - the young couple looking to buy their first home, the business owners trying to expand their operations, the farming families looking to hand over to the next generation, the parents trying to secure affordable childcare and ensuring better access for people with disabilities. These were some of the issues I encountered. Throughout the campaign, the Irish people listened carefully to what they were being told. They considered what the different parties were offering and they gave a mandate for different parties. That is now reflected in the context of the Government that has been formed by Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Independents. The programme for Government ensures that we can set about delivering on the policies we set out in the general election. The parties that form this Government took on the responsibility in the context of the mandate we were given. Parties that excelled at diagnosing the problems but were not brave enough to deliver the antidote got their message. As a lead negotiator for my party in the Government formation talks, I want to thank all those involved in the process, which began shortly after the election and concluded last month with the publication of this document. While each party came to the talks with differing perspectives, I want to acknowledge all colleagues' dedication and commitment to delivering the best outcome for the people they represent
This programme for Government sets out an important agenda to protect and grow our economy, transform and scale up delivery of public infrastructure and provide enhanced public services to our people, with ambition and reform at the centre of everything we do. The document runs to more than 160 pages, with more than 40,000 words, and is grouped across 11 key areas of delivery. Everyone will have the opportunity to set out for Ministers and Deputies what they want to see delivered. It is a great honour for me to have been appointed by the Taoiseach as Minister for public expenditure, infrastructure, public service reform and digitalisation and I will outline some of the key area of focus for me shortly.
I also wish to highlight some of the key commitments in other areas which speak to the ambition of this Government to deliver for people, families and businesses across every aspect of life and society. Key commitments such as extending free GP care, supporting carers and protecting core social welfare payments are all contained in the section of the document dedicated to developing a more caring society. The document is incredibly ambitious about transforming our healthcare services and recognises that staffing and workforce are key to that goal. That is why we commit to recruiting additional doctors, nurses, dentists and healthcare professionals, as well as reducing waiting times, massively increasing bed capacity and opening many new elective hospitals and surgical hubs across our country.
We have also placed enhancing supports for people with disabilities front and centre in our commitments in the programme for Government. I believe a society should be judged by how it treats its most vulnerable. As a country, while we recognise a lot has been done, we have significantly more to do in the context of supporting people with disabilities. Ambitious proposals to radically transform services and to better support and assist people who care for those with disabilities are included across the document.
In the section addressing investment in our future, we outline our commitments in the areas of education, higher education, children and transport, including reductions in the pupil-teacher ratio and expanding the school transport scheme. We also want to progressively reduce the cost of childcare through the national childcare scheme and explore options to cap costs for larger families, while ensuring childcare providers’ fees are open, transparent, equitable and readily available to all parents. We also commit to the provision of in-school therapies and supports, which I believe can and will bring about an important step change in special education provision in this country and will help to ensure all children can reach their potential in a more caring and nurturing environment.
We outline specific and detailed commitments to support our enterprise economy, unlock opportunities for investment, enhance our competitiveness, cut costs and make it easier for SMEs, which are the backbone of our economy, to trade and operate in our country. This also includes a commitment to create 300,000 extra jobs by 2030, supported by strategic investments, supportive enterprise policies and a focus on fostering a vibrant and competitive economy. We will also publish an action plan for competitiveness and productivity within 12 months in office.
In the area of climate, we have set ambitious targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2040. We must also ensure we have the correct mix of incentives and regulations to deliver those aims across all sectors of the economy while also protecting our energy security. We are also eager to reduce energy costs and we detail a range of measures to support households and businesses, as well as more radical and fundamental structural and systematic changes. This includes ramping up investment in our energy grid to make it more resilient and robust. This is a critical issue, the importance of which has been underscored by the impact of Storm Éowyn on so many households and businesses across the country.
We also want to reform existing legislation relating to the Commission for Regulation of Utilities and fully and finally unlock our country's offshore renewable energy potential.
Housing is the single biggest issue facing so many young people and families throughout our country and the document clearly reflects this across its sections. We face significant challenges relating to housing supply and have outlined a significant response, which includes the retention and enhancement of essential housing initiatives such as the first home scheme and the help-to-buy scheme, on which we will build and take further action. Increasing supply is the key to addressing the housing crisis. The Government will pursue every action possible to ensure we drive home ownership in our country and deliver real progress in housing policy, and increasing the number of social and affordable homes will be central to this.
A strong set of measures is also contained in the safe and secure community section. This includes commitments to increasing safety on public transport through the creation of a new dedicated transport security force, providing funding to recruit at least 5,000 new Garda recruits and Garda staff over the next five years, publishing a new rural safety section and enacting legislation to combat antisocial behaviour.
I have outlined just a selection of the key measures contained within this document and colleagues will outline others. What will be clear from those who contribute to this debate will be the ambition the programme has at its core in setting out a clear agenda of reform and delivery over the next five years. The job now for the Government is to turn these commitments into actions and deliver for our country. This is what I will be doing as Minister for public expenditure, infrastructure, public services, reform and digitalisation, working in collaboration with colleagues, and I am pleased the programme for Government places a specific focus on, and is incredibly ambitious about, infrastructure and embracing the digital revolution to radically overhaul and enhance public services delivery.
In five years, we want this Government to be defined by its ability to deliver, and my ambition is for this to be the Government that truly makes a step change in infrastructure delivery in particular. Infrastructure has been identified as a critical issue facing our country and economy, but we have reasons to be confident and optimistic for our future. We are at full employment and have a highly skilled workforce. Inflation has stabilised and the public finances are strong, and we have invested €10 billion in our two long-term funds and will continue to make these investments in both funds. All of this is in our favour to drive forward economic growth and prosperity for our country.
We know, however, that our economic success and competitiveness is being stifled by infrastructural gaps in critical areas such as water, energy, housing and transport, and if we can properly tackle and address these infrastructural deficits, we can go a huge way towards unlocking the full potential of our enterprise economy. There is clear prioritisation and the ambition given in the programme is to transform infrastructure development. These include structural changes within my Department, with the establishment of a new infrastructure division to co-ordinate delivery across government. It also encompasses a commitment to completely reviewing the national development plan by the summer to map out a revised blueprint for the delivery of major capital investment for towns, cities, regions and communities throughout Ireland in the next decade.
In tandem with transforming infrastructure, the ongoing sensible management of State spending is the primary role of my Department. The Government will submit to the EU a new medium-term fiscal plan, which I and the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, will lead on and which will be published at the same time as the summer economic statement. We know we face potentially significant headwinds from changes in international trade and moves towards a more deglobalised economic approach. This poses significant risks to Ireland as a small, open-trading economy and prudent, sensible management of our economy is critical. We have developed a strong set of principles in the programme for Government to protect our economy, drive further growth, support enterprise and embrace innovation to enhance competitiveness.
I am acutely aware economic growth is essential not only to creating jobs and higher living standards but also to improving public services. This is why we have committed to key principles for managing our economy, including running budget surpluses and funding appropriate levels of current and capital expenditure growth to meet the needs of changing demographics. We have also committed to running progressive budgets through the lifetime of the Government and reducing public debt as a share of national income. Other key economic principles we have adopted include maintaining a broad tax base to guard against the need for countercyclical fiscal policy in the event of a downturn and ensuring we implement progressive changes in taxation while the economy remains strong.
These fundamental principles we have committed to at Government will allow our country to withstand and overcome the headwinds we face and will ensure we are in a strong position to take advantage of opportunities such as the digitalisation of our economy. To overcome any challenges, we need to ensure we protect living standards, as we have seen in the measures taken in previous years with the unprecedented interventions the Government made. We also need to ensure that value for money is at the centre of delivery, and examining how we are spending taxpayers' money and ensuring we get better value for money will be a key mission for me in my role as Minister for public expenditure and in ensuring public money is used efficiently and effectively.
We are also expanding the role of digitalisation in my Department, something that features heavily throughout the programme for Government. It is clear that if we harness digitalisation properly, we can provide a much-enhanced service to our citizens while cutting costs and decarbonising our economy. Strong digital government is also seen by foreign direct investors as representing a forward-thinking, innovative country focused on talent creation, with an openness to co-investment, and we must embrace this opportunity in ensuring we develop a more co-ordinated approach to digital policy in order that we can fully leverage the benefits of utilising the most modern technologies.
We have seen the strength and agility of our public service in responding to numerous shocks in recent years. We will now move forward to build on this and strengthen our public services further to ensure they evolve to meet the needs of a modern Ireland and all our people. The public services of the future will be designed for and with our public, delivering increasingly effective and integrated public services and ensuring value for money. The programme for Government sets out how this will be a Government that protects our country from the challenges ahead and responds to the needs of our people with a reforming zeal at its core. Every measure is a stepping stone to delivering a better, fairer and more prosperous Ireland, not just for today but also for future generations. The job for all of us in government is now to deliver for the people and ensure this programme is implemented in full.
