Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)

I welcome the opportunity to engage in this broad debate for which the Minister asked when introducing his first Finance Bill. In the time available to me, it is difficult to properly engage in that full debate. I can only give a couple of pointers on the fact that this ship, or this State, should be steered in a different direction.

Reading the Minister's speech, it is clear he is thrilled to bits with how things are going. Indeed, over the past 20 years and under different Governments, this country has been, and continues to be, a successful one. The policies put in place by T. K. Whitaker and others 40 years ago have borne great fruit and have served us well. However, as we are on the deck of this ship and looking forward, our job is to look forward and not just to be happy with how well the ship is running at present. The Government is completely blind to the bad weather, the dangers and the perils ahead of us and is steering us straight into a course of great difficulty without regard to the future prospects of our economy and our society.

Foundations of our success include the flexible entrepreneurial strategy we have been able to develop and the flexible Government we have had, the joined-up thinking, the ability of our Government to act swiftly and the success of Governments on the world stage. It is remarkable that the previous Minister for Finance has, in one single move, done more than anything else to dismantle that flexibility and connection our Civil Service provides by scattering civil servants to the four corners of this country in the worst thought-out and most destructive plan ever developed for the Civil Service.

On the one hand, the enterprise strategy review group is saying we have a flexible, joined up Government while on the other hand, a Minister for Finance destroys the prospect of joined up thinking in Government. I wish the new Minister for Finance would avail of the opportunity of the departure of his predecessor to right that wrong and to recognise this is a disastrous scheme which will never work and will do huge damage to the long-term development of our economy.

I also wish the Minister was more radical in recognising the other great democratic deficit in our country, that is, the ability of local government to effectively provide good decision-making in local councils. That will not occur until there is secure and proper funding of local government rather than the piecemeal approach adopted at present. Solutions such as the site value tax proposed by the Green Party and Dublin Chamber of Commerce would be one step in that direction. It is regrettable that the Minister said nothing in response to public calls in that regard.

The reefs I see ahead of us, and the difficulty we will have in steering a course through them, are the environmental and resource issues facing the planet. The broad issue to which the Minister has increasingly alluded in his speeches, the future price of oil, is one which is hugely significant. It is incredibly disappointing in that regard to see a budget that does nothing, or little, to prepare our economy for the future depletion of oil supplies, which I believe is imminent. The small scale measures in terms of extension of excise reductions on hybrid cars is a token gesture compared with the magnitude of the changes we will need to make. In this regard, our party, in particular, believes that the Government is doing the people a huge disservice through its incompetence, ineptitude and blindness in respect of the future.

The Government is completely remiss in respect of the social agenda. This Finance Bill misses opportunities to address the social imbalance developing in our society due to policies set by the Government. I find it remarkable to see in the budget and in this Finance Bill that the level of indirect taxes, the value added taxes which are highly regressive and which hit those on the lowest incomes most, are due to increase by €2 billion over the next two years.

Deputy Bruton was right when he pointed out that this supposedly low tax Government was actually a high tax Government, one which taxes by stealth and by cute manoeuvres. It keeps the certain base line rates in income tax, which we all welcome, but behind that simple, initial figure, it taxes increasingly and spends willfully. I think we will start to see a warm-up to the next election which, as we know, Fianna Fáil does only too well. We will see current expenditure increase by 9% or 10% per year — Lord knows what the actual outturn will be — as Fianna Fáil ramps up spending ahead of the next election, but it will hit the people afterwards.

There are a number of social issues that should be, and could be, addressed by this Finance Bill. One is the disgraceful segregation and apartheid regime set up through the individualisation of the tax system. It means that for those who are not in the paid economy but who are doing hugely important work, there is little or no recognition. That policy is hugely destructive for the long-term future development and welfare of our economy. I wish this new Minister would recognise that and move away from it rather than, as this budget does, put further distance between those who decide, for whatever reason, to be involved in voluntary or caring work or to raise a family, about which the Government does not care and on which it does not put a value.

The huge issue the Government ignores, to which it is blind, which is hugely destructive to society, is the property boom it is fuelling because it is a Government which basically will always look after builders and developers. I welcome the reduction in stamp duty for second-hand homes but it is only a small fraction of what the Green Party in government would do to try to dampen down the bubble the Government has created.

I will oppose Second Stage but I welcome the chance for debate. Perhaps I will raise some of the issues I have addressed on other Stages.

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