I am sure the Taoiseach paid close attention to the Tánaiste's Ard-Fheis speech last weekend, given Fine Gael is one of his partners in government. There is no doubt we witnessed a political transformation, unlike almost anything we have seen for the past 20 years. Having been an enthusiastic Tory fiscal conservative for his entire life, the Tánaiste has seen the light. There were so many spending commitments announced on Saturday that Fine Gael delegates must have been checking to make sure they were at the right event.

I will try to list some of the promises, but there were so many I may inadvertently leave some out. They included a commitment to build 40,000 houses per year, an extra €4 billion per year for the health service, expanded medical card eligibility, occupational pensions, a living wage and more money for welfare payments, all paid for not with tax increases but some vague sounding growth at a time the economy recovers from the pandemic, we are coping from Brexit and our corporate taxes are set to reduce.

I wonder if the Taoiseach is fearful that the next time he is down in Dublin Bay South, he will come across a Fine Gael bus with a big sign on the side of it stating there is €4 billion extra per year for the HSE emblazoned on the side of it. The Tánaiste's other political inspiration, Boris Johnson, found that kind of stunt useful. Given imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, I am gratified the Tánaiste has taken on some of the Social Democrats' policies, including improved public services, better pay and conditions for workers, a social welfare safety net in order that people to live in dignity and much increased State investment in housing. However, I am not sure he is a credible person to deliver on this given Fine Gael, after ten years in office, has not managed to reach the Rebuilding Ireland target of 25,000 houses annually, never mind 40,000 houses.

Meanwhile, 1 million people are currently on hospital waiting lists and it has taken Fine Gael ten years to realise the problems with gifting a new €800 million maternity hospital to a private company with a religious ethos.

Was the Taoiseach warned or even consulted in advance of these announcements? Are we to understand that the health budget will increase by €4 billion every year from now on? Will that come as a surprise to the Fianna Fáil Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly? Is the Fianna Fáil Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, down in the Custom House planning the delivery of 40,000 houses? I hope so. Who in Government is deciding fiscal policy? Is it solely a Fine Gael remit? Does the Taoiseach stand over all those commitments and, just as important, does he stand over how they will be paid for?

I did not get a chance to watch all the Fine Gael Ard-Fheis but I picked up some aspects of it from the extensive media coverage. I can report that the Minister for Health is in good form over the last 48 hours in terms of the underpinning of the substantial health budget which will be required. He might optimistically think that his bilaterals with the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Michael McGrath, may not be as difficult or challenging as health Ministers generally have them with Ministers of public expenditure. That remains to be seen.

In a more serious vein, the programme for Government aims essentially to take this country through the pandemic as safely as possible, to facilitate the emergence of a strong economy and society and to learn the lessons of the pandemic in terms of a stronger State in health with reforms and funding. It is not just about funding, but the reforms that go along with it.

We have learned a lot during the pandemic. I was keen in late summer when working with the Minister for Health to ensure the winter initiative was introduced with €600 million, an unprecedented level of funding for a winter initiative, and to give full-year funding to that. That has made a significant difference to the capacity of the health service to withstand normal winter pressures, never mind the third wave. If it had not been for that level of investment in home care packages, community diagnostics and acute capacity, we would have been in far greater difficulty during the winter.

Regarding information technology, the digital transformation that occurred in certain aspects of health is something else we have to build on as we emerge from the pandemic. There will, without question, be a stronger health budget in the next year or two to make sure we embed the reforms that have been made and to underpin the level of services required. We are living longer generally and that will create its own additional cost.

On housing, we are very clear the single biggest issue of our time is to make sure the current generation, particularly but not just young people, are in a position to get into the housing market and buy houses that they can afford and that we can provide more social housing. With the Housing for All strategy, we are focusing on a significant social housing programme for the next five years.

Another key plank is climate change. We have already brought groundbreaking climate change legislation into this House and had it passed. There is a very extensive programme for Government which we are focused on delivering.

Covid has certainly exposed huge weaknesses, including health, childcare and a range of other things. There is no doubt about that. However, announcements were made at the weekend. Does the Taoiseach stand over them? Are we, as I hope we are, seriously looking at 40,000 houses a year? Is that a Government commitment? Was the Taoiseach consulted in advance?

What about the summer economic statement? Has work been done on that already? Is it on the way? Are these announcements likely to be included in it or is this just about electioneering? It is important that we understand where the Government is at in terms of some of these announcements. There was a very long list of announcements. The Taoiseach might address the reference to 40,000 houses. Is that a firm commitment? Will the Government stand over it? Is it credible that what was announced can be paid for by way of growth without tax increases?

The Tánaiste's speech was to the Fine Gael Ard-Fheis and, as leader of that party, the Tánaiste is quite entitled to address and present the Fine Gael perspective on a variety of issues. The Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform last evening presented us with an overview and presentation of the summer economic statement. It may be characterised as a more sober assessment of the situation over the next five years, generally speaking, in terms of the framework. We knew that, for these two years, exceptional spending would be required in terms of the pandemic, and an exceptional deficit. Over the lifetime of the Government, as part of the programme for Government, we have said we will ease our way through to a balanced fiscal position over the next five years. That is the trajectory the Ministers presented to us. They will be doing more work on that before the publication of the summer economic statement.

On the question about 40,000 homes, the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage is preparing the Housing for All strategy. We obviously lost a lot of houses last year and this year. Over the next ten years, we will have to build up. The ESRI has referred to 33,000 houses. Given that we lost 5,000 houses in 2020 and 6,000 or 7,000 in 2021, we need to make that up for the remainder of the decade.