Paul Connaughton Snr (Galway East, Fine Gael)

If only it was as simple as the way the Minister finished up his speech. It is a pity those concepts are not actually put into practice. I have listened to the same comments from one budget to another and they never seem to work out.

The outlook for this year's budget is an entirely different kettle of fish to last year's example. At that time there was not even a cloud in the sky, although some of the underlying problems now besetting the economy were beginning to emerge. However, we were approaching a general election and there could be no impediment on the return to Government by Fianna Fáil.

This is not the first time Fianna Fáil pulled this stroke. People may have very short memories but the same comments were made before the 2002 general election. We remember the so-called swingeing cuts the then Minister for Finance, former Deputy McCreevy, made to correct the position. That was the fashionable phrase we had for two years. It was not that the Minister was reneging on promises but rather he was correcting a position when the general election was over.

Is it not strange that in the 12 months leading up to the last general election, everything seemed absolutely rosy as the economy was being talked up without the possibility of a problem? I understand Fianna Fáil, based on election promises, indicated that based on the growth in the economy of 3% to 3.5% over the next three years, the programme for Government set out last May would have been possible. Economists now seem to agree the growth in the economy should be between 3% and 3.5% over the next three or four years. If the Government figures were predicated on this growth rate, why is the Minister for Finance now literally frightening people in the last couple of weeks before the budget with this very dour forecast?

There are several issues the Irish people will be sore about next budget day if they do not come about. The people were given an absolute understanding, given the growth rate I have spoken about, that the top and standard rate of tax would be reduced and there would be indexation of the bands and allowances. Everything I hear coming from the Minister for Finance, the Taoiseach and everybody else speaking about the forthcoming budget seems to suggest the Government is trying to sidestep these matters.

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