Léim ar aghaidh chuig an bpríomhábhar
Gnáthamharc

Economic Policy

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 30 September 2020

Wednesday, 30 September 2020

Ceisteanna (1, 2, 3)

Mary Lou McDonald

Ceist:

1. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Taoiseach his plans for a high level review of the economy to be led by his Department. [25392/20]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Richard Boyd Barrett

Ceist:

2. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Taoiseach his plans for a high level review of the economy to be led by his Department. [27111/20]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Mary Lou McDonald

Ceist:

3. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Taoiseach if his Department has convened the well-being expert group. [27069/20]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí ó Béal (6 píosaí cainte)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 3, inclusive, together.

Both the high level review of the economy and the development of new measures of well-being and progress will be taken forward as part of the ongoing work on the development of a national economic plan and its associated work streams. As committed to in the programme for Government, work is under way to develop a national economic plan, which will follow after the budget with a focus on the priorities and objectives for Ireland's economic recovery.

We are living through a time of high levels of economic uncertainty in terms of the pathway of Covid-19 and the final impact of Brexit. Given this, the plan will set a framework of our priorities and policy objectives for sustainable recovery, while signalling pathways and further work streams over the years towards these medium-term goals. Work on the plan is being overseen by the Cabinet committee on economic recovery and investment. It will set out our approach to an inclusive and balanced recovery, building resilience across our enterprise and sectors and future-proofing our economy and society. Transitioning to a sustainable and low carbon economy will be at the heart of the plan.

The work is also an important opportunity to progress programme for Government commitments, including the development of well-being indices to aid a well-rounded view on how the economy and society are faring. I expect that there will be consultation and engagement with stakeholders and experts as we implement this and other commitments in the programme for Government over the period ahead.

When he stands up to respond, will the Taoiseach tell us when the two errors in respect of the calculated grades came to light? I know this news will be deeply concerning to students across the land and it seems quite something that errors of this magnitude have occurred but I would like to know when the Government first discovered them.

Can the Taoiseach confirm which Departments and organisations have been consulted as part of this high level review and who within the Department of the Taoiseach is heading up this important work? It is clear that the consultative aspect of the review's work is important because whole sections of the domestic economy will face unique challenges in the months and years ahead. As the Taoiseach knows, uncertainty is not the friend of any business. There are sectors within the domestic economy that are blocked from trading because of public health restrictions and the acting Chief Medical Officer has warned of ongoing restraints for the next six to nine months.

Government is assuming a certain level of resilience for micro and small businesses in the next 12 months that does not reflect the reality for many of them. These local businesses employ over 1 million people. Hospitality and local pubs are the typical employers on which many communities rely for employment. These are not just places of social interaction, they are vital employers and stimuli for local economies. Taxi drivers are another sector of workers who are at the end of their tether. Many do not have the financial reserves necessary to manage the National Public Health Emergency Team, NPHET’s, projected uncertainty despite their viability in normal times. What voice do these businesses have at the Government's high level review of the economy?

I also want to note the legitimate and real frustrations and concerns of the commercial events sector. I met with representatives of the event production industry Covid, EPIC, working group last week. It estimates that the commercial events sector accounts for 90% of the 5 million event tickets sold in Ireland each year and it directly contributes over €3.5 billion to the national economy. It is an industry that is ready to go but this readiness will not last forever. Will the Taoiseach give a concrete commitment to include EPIC in the consultative process of the high level review?

I noted that the Government dealt with the matter of ticket touting at Cabinet yesterday after a long time of those of us on this side of the House advocating and producing legislation on that matter. I could not but be struck by the irony that the Government was dealing with matters of ticket touting, as real as those concerns are, at a time when there are no gigs, concerts or matches.

I invite the Taoiseach to turn his attention to and engage with EPIC members and the industry as these people are finding it very difficult. There is a real danger that this very lucrative and important part of our economy will be permanently damaged unless the Government intervenes directly.

Despite all the talk of us all being in this together, I put it to the Taoiseach that the Government is progressively abandoning many of the workers and sectors that have been most harshly hit by the public health measures it has put in place.

By definition, the pandemic unemployment payment, PUP, is given to people who have lost employment because of measures the Government has taken. They have done nothing wrong but they are being victimised with across-the-board cuts to their income. In the same week, the halt on mortgage repayments that could be used by those people is being lifted and they can now face further harassment from the banks at a time when their employment position may be deteriorating because of renewed restrictions.

Despite repeated calls that I have made for months on behalf of taxi drivers to respond to their requests for assistance, their industry has been absolutely decimated and is being decimated again. They are going to be taking to their cars for a protest on 9 October out of desperation because of their situation but we have had no commitments or assurances. The arts, music and entertainment sector is worth €3.5 billion, with 35,000 people whose livelihoods have been decimated, and there is no clear commitment or assurance of financial supports to sustain them through this period. The Debenhams workers, whose employer used Covid-19 as a cynical excuse to execute a tactical liquidation, have now been on the picket lines for more than 170 days and the Government has completely abandoned them. It is absolutely outrageous.

I put it to the Taoiseach that the Government must support all these people. Money is being given out hand over fist to sections of big business in this country which have not lost anything close to the amount of income that these sectors have lost. The Government has no problem giving the money to them. People involved in arts and music, the taxi drivers and the Debenhams workers have meanwhile been just abandoned. I ask the Taoiseach - and, more important, these people ask him - to do something for them. They are in trouble through no fault of their own.

First, we have not been giving money hand over fist to big business. The funding has been directed through wage subsidy schemes and more than €3.5 billion has been paid through the PUP alone. There are 350,000 workers whose jobs are underpinned by the wage subsidy scheme. By any standard that is an extraordinary intervention as the Covid-19 pandemic is an extraordinary event.

This has been necessary because Covid-19 has had an impact on the very sectors mentioned by the Deputy. Covid-19 has made congregation almost impossible. Supporters cannot turn up to matches in the numbers we are used to and the hospitality sector is facing very challenging circumstances. It is not the Government that is the cause of this but Covid-19. The Government has to respond and it has done so with a suite of measures right across the board, including restart grants and human capital initiatives involving more than 200,000 placements, apprenticeships and different schemes through Skillnet Ireland and so on. That is a €200 million initiative.

Likewise we have seen restart grants and loan facilities being made available. The general feedback, understandably, is that small and medium enterprises do not want to pile debt upon debt. The multinational sector, which the Deputy consistently rails against, is not getting huge support but is doing well, particularly with life sciences. That is helping to underpin the economy as - guess what - many Irish-owned small and medium enterprises depend on multinationals. The multinationals employ approximately 250,000 people but for every job they provide, they also create employment in the SME sector. There are 450,000 jobs in that sphere, all told.

The Deputy mentions the self-employed and taxi drivers, and there is a range of others. I accept the point on EPIC and we will engage with the group and representatives of the events industry. Again, the industry has been very badly affected by Covid-19 as the excellent type of economic activity in the sector cannot easily be carried out when the virus is an issue. In the forthcoming budget we will continue to look at ways in which we can assist sectors over and above what we have done already.

We recognise and acknowledge the impact of Covid-19 on those sectors specifically and we have been consistent about that. Severe restrictions have been introduced in Dublin and prior to that they were introduced to Laois, Offaly and Kildare, and we brought in additional measures to help those areas. We will again look at measures that may be introduced to help those specific sectors.

The Deputy argues that we are abandoning jobseekers and there are challenges in social protection. There are 213,000 people on the jobseeker's allowance. There is the issue with carers and there is a motion before the House on child poverty. We must take measures and prioritise those areas outside of the extraordinary interventions we have made with the economy and employment. That must be acknowledged and some budgetary action will be required for measures designed to help people who are really feeling the brunt of the economic downturn arising from the Covid-19 pandemic.

We are specifically looking to see if we can help particular sectors because there is no rates valuation or because people have not been in a position to avail of existing schemes. We are looking to see if we can create bespoke approaches and schemes to help them. That is being looked at in the budget context to see if we can help people with social protection in such cases. We will continue to do that.

Deputy McDonald mentioned the leaving certificate calculated grades. My understanding is the Department would have been alerted to this by the company, Polymetrika International Inc, which initially discovered the error in the code. The company informed the Department about it and it has since corrected that piece of code. It is now operating as intended. The Department of Education and Skills found a second error while performing checks related to rectifying the first error and the Department is very anxious that it would get all the issues resolved and that it would understand fully what was involved before going public to ensure it can be comprehensive in its presentation to students and all involved.

All students registered with the calculated grades student portal will receive communication from the Department. The Minister will make a more comprehensive statement on this later today. It is important that this is comprehensive and communicates directly to the students.

When was the Department made aware of this?

I said it was last week. I do not have the specific date. That was when it was initially alerted and then the Department had to find out what was involved and the details.

The economic plan is the subject matter of this question. We want to think about where the economy and society will go after Covid-19. Today's Economic and Social Research Institute report mentions a potentially better balance in housing supply and economic activity in the regions, as well as investment in broadband, the climate change agenda and retrofitting and energy efficiency measures. There is also a digitalisation agenda, which is particularly important given the lessons we have learned about Covid-19 and the capacity to bring more jobs to regions and rural Ireland in particular.

The economic plan will follow the budget.

That will provide a medium-term framework for where we are heading socially and economically post Covid-19, and where we should invest more to accelerate new areas of economic development. One key area will be construction.

Barr
Roinn