Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

Ba mhaith liom an t-am atá agam a roinnt leis an Aire Stáit ag an Roinn Comhshaoil, Oidhreachta agus Rialtais Áitiúil, an Teachta Batt O'Keeffe, agus an Teachta Mulcahy.

Listening to Deputy Twomey's contribution, I received a good exposition as to why I fear the Fine Gael Party getting into power. His main concern was about total national personal indebtedness. He did not deal with the issues that governments must worry about. There is no doubt that some people, as always happens, have borrowed beyond their means. Deputy Twomey claimed that society as a whole had borrowed beyond its means. He more or less said if Fine Gael was in government, it would stop people borrowing money. It is the function of the Central Bank to ensure credit policy is run correctly. Its obligation is to ensure lending institutions do not lend money beyond people's means to repay. Market forces will also dictate that. If banks were reckless in their lending policies, their business would be in jeopardy.

In a strong economy many people have the borrowing capacity and can afford to repay loans. Thirty years ago when people bought a house, they paid it off and did not borrow again. People now have higher aspirations. Many home owners have bought a second property in Ireland or abroad and they do not face any pressure with such borrowing. Those under pressure are the first-time buyers. One has to identify where the problem might be and deal with it. That was the reason one change made in the budget related to a particular group which faced the most pressure, the first-time buyer with a loan.

Some first-time buyers are in the fortunate position to already have the full cost of a house. They will not benefit from the budget because they do not face any pressure in repayments. The Government has, in a clinical way, made sure that those under pressure, due to the rising price of an essential commodity, the first home, have been given a leg up.

Fine Gael complains about borrowing levels. When we introduced the SSIA scheme to cool the economy and create a habit of saving, we were scarified by the Opposition for encouraging this type of saving. The cap on the SSIA proved it was very much the ordinary person's saving vehicle. It has proved to be a huge success, helping many people to learn about saving.

It is extraordinary to hear Fine Gael on national finances, the area in which we have total control. It is interesting to compare this year's figures with those from 1987, the last time a Fine Gael-Labour coalition had a long run at it. In 1987 the interest bill on the national debt was £2.7 billion per annum, 33% of the tax take. Despite the growth in the economy, in 2006 we paid only €2.4 billion, 5% of the tax take. That is good management of the funds that we are directly charged to manage. In 1987, the Fine Gael-Labour Government borrowed £1.5 billion on the current account, spending only £770 million on capital projects. In 2006, the account is in surplus of €8.9 billion, allowing us to spend €7 billion on capital projects, almost ten times the 1987 figure.

There is a similar trend in our total national debt. It is amazing to think that the national debt doubled between 1983 and 1987 to €30 billion. Today it is only €38 billion in an economy, as I have illustrated in the figures, up to ten times larger. We are getting the fundamentals right. We have a strong, confident economy and growing employment, which have created the stability we need for growth. Our second task is to ensure money is spent wisely. In my limited time I will focus on two issues, the first of which is carers.

We all know from personal experience that those who care for other people in their homes contribute, in a quiet way, much to society. Traditionally, our social welfare code has not allowed people to claim two social welfare payments at once. In an innovative move we have changed that for carers in recognition that they are providing a service, both to the person for whom they care and to society. After the change in this budget, a carer aged over 66 years who has a contributory pension will be €125 per week better off. It is adding virtually 50% to their income and is an overdue recognition of their contribution. It is a real recognition by this Government of the significant contribution these people make to society and the heavy burden they carry. It follows on from a series of improvements that have been made for carers in recent years.

I would also like to focus on the additional €100 million that has been provided for disability and mental health services. One must take this in the context of the money provided two years ago in a rolling programme for the improvement of services for people with disabilities and the 10% increase in the recent Estimates. We all know from dealing with the disability services that there is a need for extra investment. I hope this €100 million, which has been given for residential, respite and day places and other service improvements, will lead to an incremental improvement in services to the most vulnerable in our society.

Our attitude in Government has always been that one cannot spend what one does not make. We must first, therefore, ensure we have a sound and growing economy that is buoyant and brings in revenue so we can provide better services to our people. Without doing that there would be no largesse. We would return to 1987 when there was no surplus funding and could be no improvement in services. No matter how much money one has, one must then decide in a focused way where priorities lie. I am delighted social welfare increases accounted for over half of the extra expenditure in this budget. This shows the Government is focused on those least well off in society. It is also focused on young people trying to get their first house. This is a budget with a vision and a mission to help those who need it most. I am delighted to have been able to say these few words and commend this budget.

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