I am glad to be able to commend this motion of confidence to the House today.
I propose, Sir, in the course of what I have to say in the fairly limited time available to try to concentrate on the future which I believe is where this country needs to concentrate [998] and to express the view that the debate which I heard intermittently in this House over the past two days is, from any point of view, regrettable and deplorable. The manner in which the debate was carried on must cause widespread regret. If there are areas which need to be investigated, and undoubtedly there are, they should be investigated by the relevant tribunals and bodies which have been set up for that purpose. The remarks made in this House about those matters are not going to be particularly helpful in elucidating what the truth might be.
It is very fortunate that the Companies Act which was passed in December last and which was brought into force during the course of this year gives very substantial powers to the Minister for Industry and Commerce and the High Court to investigate wrongdoings of one kind or another which may be alleged from time to time. I would like to see all the various tribunals, inspectorates and so on who have been established in recent months being able to get on with their work. While obviously I would be the last to suggest that the citizens of this country should not have recourse to the courts, it is somewhat ominous that there is such systematic recourse to the courts, particularly by those who are in a position to pay for it. It is, of course, a matter for the courts to decide on each and every one of these matters which are brought before then, and I do not wish in any way to influence the conclusions the courts might come to. However, it has been a feature of affairs in this country in recent years that the sheer weight of money seems to allow some people who have it to avail of rights which sometimes those who do not have it seem to be unable to vindicate.
I might say in passing - because it disturbs me somewhat - that questions of conflict of interest and problems arising therefrom which have been extremely and hotly debated in this country over the past couple of months are not confined to the business community or to the semi-State bodies but can also extend to the professions. I find it curious that a professional person who signed, for [999] example, a pleading on behalf of the Minister for Industry and Commerce a year ago can find himself today acting in an inquiry into essentially the same matter on behalf of the Minister's opponent. I invite those whose job is to monitor such matters to apply their minds to questions of that kind, which might usefully be done.
I believe very fervently that today is a good day for Irish politics and more importantly from the point of view of this country, it is a good day for the Irish people. In the wake of the litany of unacceptable and deplorable business scandals of the past two months or so, which are being resolutely investigated by the Government and by the different tribunals and agencies set up by them, it is very satisfactory and reassuring that this Coalition Government of the Progressive Democrats and Fianna Fil have been able to draw up and agree a comprehensive, far-reaching and radical set of social and economic objectives which, through their steady implementaion over the next two to two and a half years, will fundamentally address many of the serious ills which are clearly now affecting our society.
I regret it was not possible for the two parties to reach agreement at an earlier stage. That was the earnest wish of the Progressive Democrats, and I believe, too, of the Fianna Fil Party. However, the sheer duration and intensity of the negotiations certainly testify to the extent of the policy issues which are covered in the programme review; the convictions on various issues of both parties, and ultimately the determination on both sides to finally agree a set of proposals that go to the heart of the various social, economic, fiscal, institutional and law reform issues which have to be addressed if this country is to succeed and if our parliamentary process is to prove its real worth in this country.
At the outset, therefore, I would like to pay tribute to the tremendous negotiating skills and the tenacious dedication of our two negotiators, the Minister for Energy, Deputy Bobby Molloy, and Mr. Pat Cox, [1000] MEP, and to the small band of party back-up experts and advisers, who were very ably marshalled by our party's Government Press Secretary over the past three months. I think the input of all those people, on behalf of such a small party as the Progressive Democrats, was truly remarkable. Having witnessed, particularly in the last week, at close quarters myself the intensity of the negotiations and the importance of the issues that were at stake, I feel very proud of the dedication and the ability demonstrated by those concerned. I want to thank, too, my parliamentary party colleagues and the party's national executive who at all stages throughout the negotiating process demonstrated total and unanimous support for our party's stance during this vital and prolonged review on the Programme for Government.
In any Coalition Government it takes two sides to make a pact. On this point I want to pay tribute to the commitment and negotiating skills in the national interest of our Fianna Fil colleagues in Government - the Taoiseach, the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Labour, and also to express gratitude for the work done by civil servants in various Departments, and particularly in the Department of Finance and in the Revenue Commissioners, as part of the exhaustive review process which was so intensively pursued by the two parties.
I, and other members of my party, have repeatedly stated in recent weeks that in light of the unemployment crisis which is besetting our country, the many other social problems that have to be tackled and the series of revelations of alleged wrongdoings in part of the State and private sectors, that even if this was a single party Government it would be entirely appropriate that a mid-term review of the Government's overall programme and objective should be undertaken at this time.
The built-in review clause, therefore, which the Progressive Democrats sought in July 1989 provided a golden opportunity to the two Government parties to fundamentally review the operation of the July 1989 programme, on which there [1001] has been very satisfactory progress, and to radically revise and renew it in light of the changed circumstances now prevailing two and a quarter years on, while also committing the Government collectively to a fresh set of economic and social objectives.
I believe that the new programme agreed today by Fianna Fil and the Progressive Democrats will provide the basis for effective, radical and innovative government in this country over the next two years, and I believe it has been constructed in a spirit of partnership and goodwill between our two parties and will be implemented in a similar vein.
I believe the Irish people will be the beneficiaries of the implementation of these extensive and far-reaching policy objectives agreed after exhaustive examination and negotiation between the two parties. This news programme will advance a comprehensive series of measures to tackle effectively the unemployment crisis, which is this country's number one problem and also to ensure greater equity, social justice and accountability in Irish society.
Today's new Programme for Government sets down a number of vital policy objectives, including the maintenance of strict control of public spending. It also spells out the objectives and the mode of delivery of the most radical, pro-jobs tax reform programme ever undertaken in this State.
I believe this will significantly improve the job creation prospects for our people and allied to the overhaul of this country's industrial policy which I instituted last June and which I hope to have submitted to my office by the end of this year, it will transform our job creation policy and give renewed hope to our unemployed, our school leavers, and the entire community.
The programme also sets out objectives for the development of out natural resource industries, including especially tourism and agriculture. In the latter case, it commits the Government to the maintenance of the maximum possible number of viable family farms in rural Ireland, and also to upholding the [1002] interests of the commercial farming sector, while also providing an effective appeals framework for farmers excluded from the recent disadvantaged areas scheme extension.

The agreement between the parties in Government to examine the extension of voting rights to recent emigrants is based on the agreement by the two parties to the principle involved, provided there are no constitutional barriers to so doing.
The new Government programme also spells out a series of major institutional reform measures affecting how our democracy is run, and in particular seeks to address the undoubted shortcomings in how the Oireachtas itself does business.
We need to make the Dil - I think we are all agreed on this - a more businesslike, efficient and accountable national Parliament, and I believe the various proposals agreed between Fianna Fil and the Progressive Democrats to that end will dramatically improve the business and the working of the Dil if they are agreed by the House as a whole. That, in turn, can reverse the undoubted and understandable cynicism which is felt widely throughout the public in relation to the operation of the Oireachtas as of now.
We also set down a long series of agreed legislative initiatives aimed at updating the legal code in this country and I note especially the commitment in the programme to amend our extradition laws. There is also a wide range of specific proposals brought forward to transform our health and social welfare services and our penal system, to deliver more effective and caring services for every citizen, while at the same time ensuring greater efficiency and value for money in the delivery of these vital social services.
In conjunction with the new Company's Act, the programme also addresses the shortcomings which have already been identified over recent weeks in the operations and accountability of [1003] State companies in particular, and to whatever extent is found to be so in private companies also.
The Government are determined to ensure the highest standards of ethical behaviour in the conduct of all State and commercial business transactions. The new programme outlines new legislative initiatives which will be taken to regulate business standards more comprehensively where this is found to be necessary, covering in particular the disclosure of interests, with the imposition of severe penalties for non-disclosure. I would point out that already in company law there are very strict obligations in this regard in respect of private companies. In the course of the lengthy passage through the Oireachtas of what ultimately became the Companies Act, 1990, I did not envisage that the same need might arise in relation to State-owned corporations. There will also be measures to govern membership of State boards, an appropriate code of conduct for employees of State companies and the introduction of full transparency and competitive tendering for all State company contracts. The greater accountability which the Government will institute in the business arena, whether in the State owned or private sectors, will also be extended to the operations of this House, with the Government agreed to the introduction of a register of interests for Members of the Oireachtas which will be lodged in the Library of Leinster House.

While obviously the Government are anxious, as I am sure is the Oireachtas, to ensure that a code of ethics would be adhered to, it would be fair to say that so far as activity in State companies and so on is concerned, if the fundamental rule that one should not benefit privately by one's public activities in State companies or State agencies is adhered to, there is little need for detailed rules. However, in the circumstances in which we find ourselves today that is obviously advisable.
I wish to refer to the general principles agreed in this programme in relation to our approach to taxation. Since the early eighties when the Commission on Taxation produced the first of their series of reports, and in subsequent reports from other bodies both here and abroad, such as the OECD, there have been consistent suggestions that there should be a different approach to the question of personal taxation in Ireland, that the philosophy should be somewhat different to the way in which we have traditionally approached it up to now. I am glad to be able to say that the programme will reflect the fact that the Government [1005] accept the general principle that from an economic viewpoint the tax system should not unduly influence individual choice, and that any departure from neutrality in pursuit of particular objectives must be clearly justified.
The cumulative impact and complexity of the tax system with relatively high tax rates together with wide-ranging exemptions and reliefs call for continuing reform and redistribution within the tax code with a view to reducing economic distortions, to improving the climate for employment and to achieving greater social equity. The acceptance for the first time in our history of those principles is a matter of greatest significance. The fact that a very intensive study of what this entails, which is being carried out now for the first time over the past number of months, will hugely benefit this country. It is regrettable that this was not undertaken before.
I am very happy and proud to say that it has now been undertaken and that the philosophy that underlies the statement of principle I have just read out has now been accepted and will form the basis of the approach to personal taxation in the years to come. The result of this can be that we will have a far more sensible taxation system with lower rates of tax and with much wider bands for the standard rate in particular. We will be able to rid ourselves of the economic distortions which have so clouded our tax system for many decades. It will enable people to work harder to increase their incomes in a way in which the marginal tax deducted from them, which is of course the great deterrent, will no longer be anything as penal as it was. We will operate on a basis that is taken for granted in many other countries but which we steadfastly refused to accept over a long period.
In talking about taxation it is impossible to do so without referring to PRSI. While the theory of PRSI is that it is a separate fund, as we know, in practice PRSI and income tax are the same thing. We cannot look at one without looking at the other if we wish to do anything effective. To that end the Government are committed to restructuring [1006] employees' PRSI with the health and employment levies on an Exchequer neutral basis so as to make it more progressive and to consolidate it into a single main rate close to 6 per cent.

The question may be asked as to how our reform programme can be implemented at a time when the Exchequer is under enormous pressure. It will be implemented on the basis of no net cost to the Exchequer and by looking at the vast range of allowances, exemptions, shelters and so on which are currently available and which have so heavily distorted the economic aspects of our tax system. The Government are fully agreed on the necessity for a programme of pro-jobs tax reform. That is why the constrained budgetary prospect which we face in the next few years does not take from the urgency of progressing such reform. We have strongly argued that point and I am happy to say that it is a matter of agreement between the parties concerned. The signing of this agreement, and its publication, is in many respects a watershed in Irish public affairs, in economic policy and in social policy particularly. I would like to think that from today on we can go forward in a spirit of determination to solve the problems that so manifestly affect this country and our people, and leave behind us the spirit of recrimination and personalised and petty approaches to things, which, unfortunately, have tended to be the hallmark of this debate so far.

