Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Last Thursday, the Central Statistics Office, CSO, confirmed that Ireland was back in recession. GDP has decreased for three quarters in a row. Since last summer, the economy has fallen by 1.8%, the largest fall over three quarters since 2009. We are facing a perfect storm, with decreasing exports due to a co-ordinated austerity programme across Europe that Ireland has continued to support and a calamitous decrease in domestic demand brought about by some homegrown policies. These Government policies have contributed to the economic decline, for example, the cuts to our investment programmes, particularly the capital programme and the consistent underspending of same. Consumers have continued to be hit with regressive taxes, for example, the elimination of the PRSI allowance. The property tax has unquestionably impacted on consumer spending in the past while.

A coherent policy on small businesses is also absent and realistic access to credit is lacking.

One only has to talk to those in the small business sector to realise their frustration at the lack of any engagement with the Government on policies that could have a real impact. Added to that, the cut in child benefit and, above all, the continuing failure to deal with a growing mortgage crisis, which is acting as a millstone around our economy, are causing paralysis. That problem has become progressively worse and many people in mortgage arrears are simply not in a position to spend in the real economy. All the Government has done is to give more powers to the banks to put more pressure on many such families. As a result, consumer spending has fallen significantly. It has gone through the floor, falling 3% in one quarter, which is the biggest quarterly fall since the recession began.

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