Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

It is clear that the Government is fractured and factional. Its eye is anywhere but on the ball, and disasters like the statutory rape crisis drive it ever further into its mental bunker. As it wanders aimlessly towards the general election, we will see more of this disconnection from the real needs of families and communities.

We may well also see a concerted effort to buy the election. Before the general election of 2002, public expenditure in Ireland was increased by 21% per annum. Money was thrown at anything that might yield up a few votes and any consideration of getting value for money was abandoned. The Exchequer was, for 18 months, turned into a Fianna Fáil and Progressive Democrats war chest. For all the talk of the McCreevy/Progressive Democrats wing of the Government, when it came to trying to buy the election, fiscal responsibility was abandoned.

As soon as the election was over, engines were reversed. Far from delivering on expensive promises, we entered into a period of cuts, curtailment and stealth taxes increases. Increases in more than 50 stealth taxes have been imposed since 2002, most of them in the immediate aftermath of the 2002 election, and all to pay for the attempt to buy votes.

We all know how it will be done. We know that cheques will fall on to mats a few weeks before the election. We know that they will be accompanied by glossy information leaflets, designed and paid for by the taxpayer, featuring the relevant Minister as prominently as possible. We know how money will be spent and how announcements will be made of more money to follow. There will be three-year plans, with phase one this year, and phases two and three if one votes them back in. We know phases two and three never happen. This is precisely what went on in 2001 and 2002.

The Irish economy simply cannot afford a repeat of that exercise. With inflation at 4%, approximately twice the target of the European Central Bank, the Irish economy can ill afford another inflationary splurge. What the Government ignored in 2001 and 2002, and what it will ignore again if it can, is the discipline inherent in monetary union.

That kind of splurge will work its way out of the Irish economy, in the form of inflation, falling competitiveness and job losses. Whatever short-term gains voters will enjoy, will be clawed back through higher stealth taxes after the election. There is every risk of damage being done to our economy in the dying days of this Government. The economy does not need another dose of this type of politics. What it needs is a sustained and sustainable commitment to using the additional resources being generated to make incremental improvements in quality public services.

Taxes are down and will stay down. Labour will not increase taxes. What we will do is use the revenues being generated for the Exchequer in a manner that addresses the needs of hard-working families. We will invest in and reform health care, tackling the crisis in accident and emergency services and dealing with the underlying problems in the health service that create it. We will: provide more beds, ensure the hospitals are cleaned, keep care as local as we can, tackle waste, and keep health as a community service, not give away vital health service sites to private investors. We will tackle crime, by a radical overhaul of policing to put gardaí, who are committed to communities, into communities and make them responsive to communities.

We will invest in families and children, by developing a new system of child care that puts children first and respects the rights and wishes of parents. We will build that system around the five pillars of affordability, time for parents, quality assured child care, more places and one year's free pre-school education. We will tackle the problems of deprivation that are clustered in so many parts of urban Ireland. Like the fuse box in a house, these are the areas where every wire and strand of inequality and disadvantage come together. These are the same areas where so much was promised in advance of the last general election, and where the door was slammed in peoples' faces as soon as the coalition was safely back in office. We will tackle disadvantage and poverty, through reforming the social welfare system, eliminating poverty traps, and building the welfare system into a springboard of opportunity rather than an inadequate safety net.

The alternative Government will simply not tolerate that in today's Ireland one in every seven children lives in poverty. I want every child to grow up in a community that is secure, in an area of which he or she can be proud. I want every child to have a place to play, and a warm place to do homework. I want all children to go to a school which gives them the attention they deserve, and which prepares them for the opportunities of modern life. It is only through education, innovation and training, upskilling and retraining that we will lay down the basis for a high-tech economy and extend opportunity to all our people, including those losing their jobs to cheaper locations. There is much to be proud of in our education system but there are also real problems. At primary level, we want to unshackle school principals and give them the budgets they need to be real educational leaders rather than harassed administrators and to make Irish primary schools places of nurturing and learning.

It is an appropriate occasion at the end of the term to assess the Government's performance, which, by any standards, has been lamentable, especially over the past year. If Fianna Fáil backbenchers are serious about their revulsion at the policies being pursued, they should support our motion tomorrow night.

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