Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I regret the House had to wait so long this morning to hear the Taoiseach's speech. It is a cause of concern that the House did not agree to set aside some time to discuss the resignation of the former Minister of State, Deputy Callely, and the implications that will undoubtedly follow.

As a society we now face a new set of problems. The cost of child care has risen dramatically. This places an enormous burden on people trying to raise a family and work outside the home. Despite increased prosperity and greater opportunities, there is a growing sense that improvements in the quality of life are not keeping pace. In our towns and cities congestion is increasing, undermining the quality of life for many of our citizens. We must provide a first-class infrastructure, better transport, roads and housing in order to improve the quality of life for our citizens.

How true. The problem is though, those are not my words, they are the Government's. That was its verdict on the state of the nation at the time of budget 2000. Six years and six budgets later we see no change. Since 1997, €266 billion was spent to achieve remarkably little. We have the same tired old promises, team and problems with Fianna Fáil and the PDs, and the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.

I am glad today is a good day for many people throughout Ireland. They listened to the news, read the papers and find they will be a little bit better off, and it is about time. However, let me disavow the Government of its vision and propaganda that this budget is some miraculous ATM stocked up for the people out of its own largesse. Altruistic Fianna Fáil and the PDs, even in the season of make-believe, is a fiction too far. The money the Government is spending in this budget is the people's own money. Let us be clear it is not a give-away budget. This is a budget about giving back.

It has taken this Government, not one, two, three, four or five budgets, but nine budgets to recognise and to give something back to the first-class people of this country who work hard, pay their taxes, rear their families and do their bit for their community. It has taken eight years and nine budgets to start giving some fair play to the people who have made our economy what it is today. I am glad that finally, the Irish people are getting some return on the huge, personal investment they make in the country because they deserve every cent they get and more. In fact, my biggest regret about this budget is that it does not give people enough. Their hard work, sacrifice, risk and ingenuity put billions into the public purse and they should get more.

They could get millions more if the Government ditched its small-change mentality towards millions of euro going down the tubes, and instead examined carefully every euro and how it is spent. Never in the history of our country has a Government had so much money with which to work. Never has a Minister for Finance addressed this House in as strong a position as the Minister for Finance, Deputy Cowen, was yesterday. Never in the history of our country has a Government spent so much to achieve so little and wasted so much money without even batting an eyelid.

People could be so much better off today if the country had a Government that knew the difference between spending money and investing money, that would make sure that investment follows reform, delivery, targets and results, and that would haul itself into the 21st century, keep its promises and its word. This budget is about more than putting the people's money back in their pockets. The budget must also be about keeping that money there in the future. In that sense, the budget must be a blueprint for the future of our country, jobs, children, security and economy.

In the 21st century, international economic stakes have never been higher. In these volatile circumstances where when one country sneezes the rest of the world catches a cold, Ireland's quality of life, public services and future wealth and wellbeing cannot and should not be a matter of political chance. They should and must become a matter of political choice. I regret that this budget contains nothing, not the barest hint of a plan or decision, never mind a choice, to solve our country's problems in the health service, crime, the cost of living, to secure our future in the longer term or meet the challenges we face ahead.

What happened yesterday was the injection of an unusually large amount of money in the economy. This, coupled with the money that will come from the SSIAs, will fuel a massive consumer spend, which will inevitably lead to increases in costs and prices and consequently to a further increase in the cost of living.

This budget is the first half of a political blueprint for one purpose only, the attempt by the Government parties, Fianna Fáil and the PDs, to survive at the next election. Some Governments change when they see the light. Fianna Fáil and the PDs only change when they feel the heat. They feel the heat at the elections and in the polls. This is their especially designed budget to take the heat off. It is a fire-escape budget.

Their consistent neglect, waste, arrogance, complacency and detachment from the lives people live today have given us hospital waiting lists that were supposed to disappear, 2,000 extra gardaí who actually did disappear, trolley watch figures that stand at 325 today and gangland executions on our streets. Children in disadvantaged areas leave school unable to read or write anything much beyond their own name. The cost of electricity and gas is going through the roof, so in the recent cold weather thousands of old people had to choose between heating and eating.

The budget might take the heat off in the short term, as a diversionary tactic, but it will not meet Ireland's future challenges because spending alone does not work and does not constitute a governing philosophy for any country, never mind one of the leading economies in the world. This budget will not work to solve our problems because spending alone is the sole governing philosophy of Fianna Fáil and the PDs. It is proved every time I ask the Government a question through the Taoiseach. Two weeks ago in this House I read a letter from a woman whose mother was critically ill and crying with pain, but was unable to get the care she needed. His stock answer is not to tell me what he is doing to actually solve the problem, it is to tell me how much he is spending on it, as if spending money was the end in itself.

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