I will begin on the broader issue of IMF lending and policy conditionality as both of Senator Higgins's amendments related to that. Conditionality has always been an integral part of IMF lending. Under its articles of agreement, the IMF is required to establish adequate safeguards for the use of its resources in order to ensure that loans to member countries are repaid as they fall due. This ensures that the IMF's resources will be available for other members who may be in need. The safeguards required under the ar…

The National Development Plan 2021-2030, NDP, published last year, demonstrates the Government’s commitment to meeting Ireland’s infrastructure and investment needs over the medium-term horizon. The NDP 2021-2030 provides €165 billion in public capital funding alongside a detailed and positive vision for Ireland up to 2030 as part of Project Ireland 2040. In budget 2023 last week, the Minister, Deputy Michael McGrath, announced an additional €800 million which will be made available under the NDP for core capital s…

I understand the capital carry-over is projected to be €800 million for next year, although we will not know without the outturn. The Minister, Deputy Michael McGrath, can tell me if I am wrong, but in general I believe we are not constrained by money in our capital programme at the moment. The real constraints are coming from lack of labour and delays that arise in the legal process or the planning system. We are not short of money for projects. As the Deputy said, it is the contracting authorities and the Account…

I meet quarterly with the Construction Industry Federation to ask it how things are going. My understanding is that it is happy and satisfied and is not looking for changes to what was brought in in the inflation co-operation framework. When a new capital works contract is taken out, the various sub-indices of inflation are agreed and a risk-sharing arrangement is put in place. If a contract is heavily dependent on the price of wood and concrete, for example, an agreement is made beforehand that if the price goes a…

Public procurement procedures require applicants to meet certain standards when applying for public contracts, including declaring whether they have breached aspects of employment law. All public works projects that are delivered under the Exchequer-funded element of the Government's capital plan must be procured in accordance with the provisions laid down in the capital works management framework, CWMF. The suite of public works contracts, which is a key component of the CWMF, contains a detailed set of provisions…

It is Government policy that there should be a living wage for all Irish employees. I would like to see it too and we have a programme working towards that goal. The Deputy's question, though, asks if we can implement this through our public procurement policies and my understanding is that it is not legal to do that. It can be imagined that if we set a certain wage for a public procurement contract that we could then have people in another country, in a different jurisdiction with a completely different economic s…

I think what the Deputy is saying is that a small minority of current public sector workers are earning the minimum wage but not the living wage.

Yes, they are earning a rate below the living wage. The Deputy would like us to address this issue and I will discuss this with the Minister, Deputy Michael McGrath, and see what progress we can make on it.

I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach and join him in welcoming the secondary school students. They have picked probably the worst time to come to the House because this is probably the most complex legislation I have had to bring in. It is a law that allows rich countries to lend money to poor countries that are in trouble and also allows us to forgive the debts of Sudan and Somalia, which got into a position whereby they would never have been able to pay them back. It was decided among 100 countries that this was the r…

The Bill was published on 11 March and passed Final Stage in Dáil Éireann on 21 September. In the Dáil, there were two Government amendments to the Bill, which were unopposed and related to a technical matter concerning previous contributions to IMF trust funds. On 30 September 2021, the Chairman of the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach wrote to the Minister for Finance to confirm the committee had agreed to accept his request for a waiver, confirming it did not wish to undert…

I thank the Senators for their thoughtful contributions, from both Government and Opposition benches. It is important to recall the challenging context in which many countries currently find themselves. The global economy and international trade have been tested by the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine. These events have required a substantial response by governments and policymakers, exhausting resources and challenging debt sustainability in many countries. They have also served as catalysts for the curren…

I am pleased to have the opportunity to appear before the Seanad to contribute to the debate on budget 2023, which the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform presented to the Dáil just a few hours ago. Budget 2023 is first and foremost a cost-of-living budget. The Government is delivering a budget against an extraordinary backdrop of uncertainty and challenge. We know that many of our people are finding it very difficult to make ends meet, are facing difficult choices in their daily lives and are seeing their h…

In part, this budget is a response to the war in Ukraine, as a consequence of which Russia has put us under pressure. Russia has increased the cost of our imported fuel while it has in some cases simply turned off the supply of gas to Europe in an attempt to put pressure on European citizens, divide us, make people unhappy, polarised, turn against each other, abandon Ukraine and say that maybe we should let Russia have a portion of it or maybe we should walk away. Just as we have taken in nearly 50,000 Ukrainians, …

I move amendment No. 1: In page 3, line 11, after “funds;” to insert the following: “to provide that the Minister for Finance may make a payment out of the Central Fund to the Central Bank of Ireland in respect of certain transactions;”. As the two amendments being discussed today concern the same issue and as they have a single objective, both will be dealt with together. I have moved amendment No. 1 and later I will move amendment No. 2, which states: In page 6, between lines 13 and 14, to insert the following: “…

I thank the Opposition for its support for the amendments. I have no wish ever to confuse the House or speak in any way that is not clear. Sometimes, however, it is important that I put the exact wording on the record. By way of explanation, what we are talking about here is a 1996 initiative by the World Bank and the IMF called the HIPC initiative, the purpose of which is to provide debt relief for extremely poor countries. More than 20 countries have qualified for relief under the initiative. In the case of Somal…

I just want to make sure I have not said the wrong thing. Deputy O'Reilly asked about the purpose of the administration accounts for Sudan and Somalia. They were established for the purpose of clearing the arrears both countries had to the IMF. Ireland did not lend the money directly. The IMF did but Ireland has its share of the IMF fund.

I move amendment No. 2: In page 6, between lines 13 and 14, to insert the following: "Payment to Central Bank in respect of certain transactions 7. (1) The Minister may make a payment out of the Central Fund or the growing produce thereof to the Central Bank of an amount not exceeding €6,600,000, being the amount that was payable to the Central Bank in respect of the State's share of the proceeds of each of the— (a) deferred charges adjustment, and (b) SCA-1 account, and that was transferred by the Fund to the Soma…

Yes.

I thank the Deputies for raising this issue. I am delighted there is so much interest in retrofit. There was not always such interest. In the past, when retrofit schemes were proposed there were cynical responses about how many years it took for the payback. Those calculations about how long it took for payback were based on assumptions about the future price of electricity and gas. We have since found out that those assumptions were wrong. In February last, the Government introduced a dramatic new retrofit scheme …

We are ahead of where we expected to be at the start of the year when we were planning in February. Survey and design work for the new high-speed fibre broadband network under the national broadband plan is complete or ongoing by National Broadband Ireland, NBI, in every county in Ireland. I am advised by NBI that, as of 9 September 2022, more than 331,000 premises are design completed and more than 88,000 premises can order or preorder a high-speed broadband connection. NBI has further advised that more than 75,00…