Minister says finding ‘the right balance’ for our struggling cities will be a priority
PUBLIC Expenditure and Reform Minister Michael McGrath wants to encourage people back to work in cities which have been devastated by the Covid19 pandemic.
Mr McGrath says while remote working suits some people, it is not for everyone, and insists there will not be major Budget supports to encourage people to work from home.
Speaking to the Irish Independent in the Department of Finance office, the minister said there are benefits for rural communities having remote working spaces as it “breathes new life” into towns and villages.
“But at the same time there is another side to that coin, and we have got a glimpse of it in recent times with city centres struggling because the footfall simply isn’t there,” he added.
The Cork South Central TD said he believes people would like a balance between working from home and going into the office “one or two days a week”.
Mr McGrath said now is the “wrong time to introduce any major initiative” that would encourage people to work from home.
“I’m just making the point that we need to find the right balance and have a debate as to what the right balance is post-Covid between remote working and working from home,” he said.
With the Budget just days away, Mr McGrath is reluctant to give away any Government plans for spending billions of euros of taxpayers’ money.
He does say his capital budget has increased beyond the €9.2bn earmarked for new roads, schools, social housing, the health service and other infrastructure projects. “The starting point going into 2021 for the Budget is €9.2bn but I am signalling to you that I’m going to go beyond that,” he said.
“I think it’s a great time to invest in infrastructure, we can borrow at historic low interest rates and there is probably some capacity within the construction industry freed up at this time,” he added.
He plans to “ramp up” the delivery of social housing and wants to build better infrastructure for walkers and cyclists.
Mr McGrath said he is in negotiations with Social
Protection Minister Heather Humphreys about paying the Christmas bonus to welfare recipients this year – but said there are a number of factors that have to be taken on board if they are to pay up to double a person’s weekly State benefit in one of the weeks before Christmas.
The minister said it could cost up to €400m if the Government was to decide to pay every person, including those on the pandemic unemployment payment (PUP), double their weekly amount in one week.
“In previous years, there has been a certain qualifying criteria in that you’d have to be on social welfare for a certain period of time,” he said.
“Obviously we are in an exceptional year and we will need to take account of that and the cost of doing that in any final decision that we make,” he added.
Mr McGrath said the cost of paying it out is “anything from €200m to €400m” depending on how you define the qualifying criteria.
He said they’re still developing supports for business sectors that have been impacted unfairly by the pandemic.
“We do recognise that some sectors and some businesses are harder hit than others. There’s no doubt about that. But it’s about trying to design schemes that can take account of that and tailor supports in the best way you can. Obviously we’re conscious of all that, and the Government has been looking at different options in that space and want to do the best we can and budget,” he said.
The Stay and Spend initiative was the key policy measure announced in the Government’s much vaunted July Economic Stimulus Package.
It was aimed at encouraging people to go on staycations around the country or go out for meals in local restaurants.
But with new measures being enforced due to the return of the virus the initiative has become almost defunct.
However, Mr McGrath said the Government still intends to stick with it and his counterpart Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe is looking at ways to improve it.
“It is unfortunate that the scheme has coincided with a period when the Level 3 restrictions have impacted on the hospitality sector in such an adverse manner, but we will stick with the scheme,” he added.
Mr McGrath says he will have to spend about €3bn more than was previously budgeted on health this year
and 2021 will bring similar challenges as the fight against the virus continues.
He said money has been set aside to pay for a vaccine if one is produced.
However, he is concerned that people will refuse to take the vaccine due to what he describes as a “significant anti-vax campaign”.
“I think the big challenge will be to convince people that it is in their interest to do so,” he said.
Mr McGrath said he understands older people have gone through a lot in the past year and although extra resources will be scarce, there are plans to provide more home-help hours.