Seymour Crawford (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)

I welcome the opportunity to say a few words on the Finance Bill, while noting that this is just one of a number of occasions we have been discussing Finance Bills over the past 12 months - and it certainly is not a pleasant one.

In reality, the only thing that will bring this country back to some type of structure is "jobs, jobs, jobs", and we cannot get away from that. This budget, however, does absolutely nothing to encourage, safeguard or create jobs.

Within the past few days I have been contacted by a number of business people about the pressure they are under as regards taxes and all the rest - yet, they have no access to finance. That is because the whole financial crisis has been allowed to drift. Although money is being paid into Allied Irish Banks today, as it was a short time ago to Bank of Ireland - up to €7 billion, at this stage - there has been no quid pro quo for small business people or, in fact, mortgage holders. They are not being given a leg up.

Surely, if a Government is prepared to put €7 billion into two banks - quite apart from what the total cost will be - there should have been agreement to the effect that hard-pressed business people and mortgage holders will be getting some relief.

Take the case of a young girl who tied herself to a mortgage, as she was advised, to start on the home ownership ladder. She was in what she considered to be a good job. Her mortgage was fixed, yet her income has dropped because of levies and other taxes, so that she cannot meet it. When she tried to renegotiate her mortgage she was told there was no problem, and that she could be released from the fixed mortgage for a sum of €6,000 - although it only has a year to go. The relief on the fixed mortgage, had it occurred, would have been of extraordinary benefit to that young person, but nothing has been done to relieve that.

The Minister for Transport, on 2 February, announced the allocation for roads. He made a wonderful speech on that day about the importance of these roads, the employment it would give and the guarantees it would provide for industries such as agriculture etc. in rural areas when the work was carried out. On 14 February, however, he withdrew €173 million from that sector. In my constituency, Cavan-Monaghan, that means €10 million has been withdrawn from the regional and county roads programme.

That removes jobs, opportunities, everything. I know we are in a tight situation, but when one sees that being removed and no effort being made to curtail the waste of money at administrative level, it is absolutely sickening. Not only will jobs be lost in the area, but the roads of Cavan-Monaghan, which were renowned for their potholes in the early 1990s, will revert to that level of deterioration. It is important to realise that the roads in my constituency carry lorries to and from the pig and poultry units and the intensive farms and this level of activity is comparable to no other part of the country. That is just an example of not understanding where the problems are, and how to deal with them.

Housing schemes in Monaghan have been curtailed. Work was to be done in Mullaghmatt housing estate, Monaghan town, Bree in Castleblayney, Cloughvalley, Carrickmacross - all to do with homes for the elderly or single parents. That would have given work to small builders etc., as would jobs in education structures. I welcome the summer scheme, which has certainly been a big help to schools all over the country. However, a devolved scheme was available up to two years ago, which allowed small schools to be built or restructured. I am mindful of Laragh, County Cavan, some of whose inhabitants were in here with the Minister the other day. They have the site ready and a local builder could go ahead and create jobs straight away, taking people off social welfare, and ultimately providing a proper structure for the children. The same is true in Rockcorry. I could go on and on.

We need to have some rethinking as regards how we actually create jobs. If we continue to put people onto social welfare, while not creating any employment or exports, then we are in real trouble. We must give people some hope, and unfortunately this Finance Bill gives neither the element of hope nor assurance that is needed. All it does is take these away when it is jobs and more jobs that we want.

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