Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)

The tragic truth is that we would have a resilient economy today that would be capable of dealing with the challenges if the programme of reform had been started. We have only to look across the water to see what Gordon Brown and the Labour Party in the UK did when they demanded annual efficiency changes and over the period in question were able to release what would be the equivalent in Ireland of 6,000 extra frontline staff to frontline positions to deliver services. We could have already resolved the question of our need for 2,000 extra gardaí, 2,000 extra consultants or 2,000 extra teachers. That could have been resolved by a proper efficiency approach along the lines of the approach taken not only in the UK but in many other countries. However, this Government just wanted to throw money at problems. The tougher the problem, the more it threw money at it and the more it did not face up to reform. That is the sad situation.

Who will be the casualties of this unreformed Government that is spending money freely and not delivering results? It will not be Ministers, that is for sure. It will be older people waiting for care, children with special needs abandoned to dropping out of school early and the vulnerable communities that are prey to drugs and the violence of organised crime. They will be the victims who will pay for a budget that will not face up to the realities of an economy which is working superbly in the private sector but which has not addressed the issue of productivity, efficiency and reform in the public sector. Most of the problems we face as a country come directly from Departments controlled by the 15 Ministers across the floor. That is where the high cost and our loss of competitiveness is coming from. We have a Government complacently whistling its way along and not addressing this crying need for reform.

Again, we see a huge disappointment in the area of taxation. Indexing bands and credits to simply meet the cost of wage increases was a core commitment and one which, above all, the Minister said he would honour but he has not honoured it. He has not honoured the 4.5% increase in wage thresholds which he said he would deliver. To meet the cost of inflation now, one would need €90, which he has not delivered.

We have also seen that, once again, more ordinary taxpayers on modest incomes will be plunged into the top rate as a result of not indexing. Next year, 750,000 people will be on the top rate of tax of 41%. That is the reality. Even people on the average industrial wage will find themselves on the top rate. Is this not an extraordinary situation? Here was a Minister who promised in the last programme for Government that only 20% of taxpayers would be on the top rate. Instead we see a massive 750,000 of them on the top rate. He has reneged on that promise in respect of 250,000 people. We still see ordinary people being asked to pay tax at the same rate as multimillionaires, which is not acceptable and must change.

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