Paul Connaughton Snr (Galway East, Fine Gael)

This is a serious debate. I listened intently to every word the Taoiseach had to say this morning. I was extremely disappointed and I will tell the House why. In the last two or three weeks, I had already heard every word he had to say today. I heard nothing new whatever today. With the build-up to this debate, I thought alternatives would be put forward and proposals made, loose though they might be, to raise the necessary tax. We did not get that. We got the same ráiméis we get all the time. The Taoiseach does not seem to be able to get across to the Irish people just how serious this is and what will have to be done.

In the last couple of days the only topic on people's lips is the sum of €15 billion, where it will come from and how it will be raised. We are all agreed that by 2014 our budget deficit must be 3% of GDP. I understand that in the last couple of hours an agency in London has suggested that we may not have any growth at all next year. I do not know where this came from but I am told it is currency around the world at present.

The Taoiseach goes to great lengths to describe any proposal that emanates from the Department of Finance, or wherever else, as a forecast. I did not hear too much about forecasts until lately. Before now, we were told that so much research was put into these matters that what was being said was likely to be the figure that would eventually turn up. We are now told these are forecasts. This brings us to the weather forecasting business. It could be right and it might not be right. Unfortunately, over the last two years the weather forecasts have been terribly wrong.

When I hear of the sum of €15 billion, I have no idea on a personal level whether that will be the figure or not. Unfortunately for most people in the country, I do not think anyone on the Government side of the House knows it either. It is against that background that Irish people are extraordinarily worried about what will happen in the first week of December.

There are so many variables in this matter. If there is average annual growth of 2.75% over four years we are told certain things will happen. What will happen if the growth rate is far less than that? What will happen with the bond holders and the interest rates? I heard the Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport, Deputy Hanafin, on the radio this morning saying that while €15 billion is a terrible crucifixion on the Irish people we have already taken out €14.5 billion over the last two years. We did not get too many brownie points from the bond holders and bankers throughout the world for the €14.5 billion we took out because, as of this evening I understand the rate has gone up again.

This is a very difficult time for every Irish person. Various sectors must be protected in some shape or form. The Taoiseach mentioned that today. I am talking about the elderly and the disabled. I am also talking about one specific cohort, and I am sure everyone in the House will agree with what I say. They are the young people who bought houses at three times their value. Not alone are they not able to pay back their loans, they are not even able to pay the interest on their loans. Whatever deal is made on 7 December will have to ensure that some help is given to these people. They are hugely important to the country and we will ruin their lives forever if something is not done for them.

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