Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North, Fine Gael)

We did not, and since then, whatever gains have been made through various tax bonanzas, paybacks from DIRT and other schemes, from the sale of State assets and so on, have all been squandered. I have a statistic here, which Deputy Kennedy, who is so well-briefed by his party, will no doubt deny, that shows the Minister for Finance, Deputy Cowen, has turned a €2.3 billion Exchequer surplus into a €4.9 billion deficit. I am sure he will deny that too.

This is the worst decline in Exchequer finances in the history of the State. If I were a respected financial analyst or commentator, I would be careful about welcoming this type of economics. The Minister will increase current spending by €4 billion and capital spending by €1 billion. This is where the borrowings will go. It is all in one envelope of money and it is fine for people to state the €5 billion is going to roads and infrastructure. It is not. A total of €4 billion will go towards current funding because of a lack of proper management of the economy. People should be honest about this aspect.

I welcome the development regarding stamp duty. It is in line with the Fine Gael proposal prior to the last election on which we ran our campaign. We were criticised by the Minister and several others at the time. However, it is a similar proposal giving similar results to house buyers.

The issue of motor tax is worrying. We are one of the highly taxed countries in Europe with regard to purchasing a car or at the petrol station. We probably have a better regime than Northern Ireland because they come across the Border to buy petrol, but, generally speaking, the Irish motorist is treated extremely unfairly and possibly penalised more than anybody else in Europe.

Irish people have a major dependency on the motor car and other vehicular travel, particularly those in rural Ireland. The Government has forgotten and rejected this fact. Dublin and a place such as Kerry on the western seaboard are like two different countries. When one leaves Kerry Airport in Farranfore to come to Dublin, one imagines one is arriving in another country. Yesterday, a group from Valentia Island was here. Fianna Fáil closed the train link from Valentia Island to Caherciveen and closed the turf burning station. Now, the Government proposes to close the coastguard station which is the last thing they have. No doubt it is based on sound economics on Fianna Fáil's side.

A total of 750,000 tax payers will now pay the top rate of tax. This was not the commitment given prior to the election. My area of responsibility is defence but, prior to the last election, I was spokesperson on the arts. The Arts Council was promised approximately €87 million. It sought an increase of €20 million to continue existing programmes. It received an increase of 3% which amounts to approximately €2 million. Many artists and groups throughout the country are disappointed in this regard.

The night before the budget we recognised the work of the former Minister for the Arts, Sports and Tourism, Deputy John O'Donoghue. I have no problem with this and glorious statements were made about the flowering arts. However, this is the Government's response to the Arts Council recognition of the former Minister. It was full of pious platitudes but with no delivery.

With regard to the defence budget, the Reserve Defence Force allocation has decreased by 17%. The Government has succeeded in discouraging young people from joining the Reserve Defence Force and, as a result, the numbers are declining. An article on this was published in The Sunday Tribune last weekend. One reason for this is to save money and this is reflected in the decrease of 17%. This, in itself, is an acceptance of defeat.

On previous occasions, I raised as a major issue the matter of the Army Equitation School. This is one of the few such establishments remaining in the world. Our military personnel perform throughout the world on behalf of the country. They have been great ambassadors for the Irish horse. The budget allocates the school €300,000 to buy horses. Patrons have given them horses on loan. If we want our riders to have proper horses and to win Olympic medals, we must fund them. We have lost our own breeds through exportation. However, the Army Equitation School must buy Irish-bred horses and cannot obtain the class of horse necessary to win Olympic medals. We do not have a horse breeding policy and the entire matter is in a shambles.

Before Deputy Kennedy criticises Fine Gael, he should look into his own heart and his side of the House.

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