Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Fine Gael)

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the financial motions before the House. The budget for 2008 is one of the most disappointing of the past ten years. We have a lack of investment in education, health, transport and the social economy. This has been a dull and uninspiring budget from a Minister happier to take the easy option rather than drive change. This budget represented a test of leadership for the Minister for Finance, Deputy Brian Cowen, which he failed.

Ordinary families and small businesses will pay for the incompetent management of the public purse we have witnessed under the Minister for Finance, Deputy Cowen. We had the hypocrisy of pre-election promises made by this Government on tax cutting, when voters were grossly misled on the state of the economy in the recent general election. However, since the summer, the Minister for Finance, Deputy Brian Cowen, was dampening people's expectations and spoke about delivering a tight budget.

He strenuously tried to dampen down expectations, created by his party, with its unrealisable pre-election promises. In advance of the general election, Fianna Fáil promised 2,000 extra gardaí, 4,000 extra teachers, 1,500 extra hospital beds, 2,000 extra consultants, tax cuts, PRSI cuts and affordable housing. The deceit with which the election was won was a carbon copy of the general election win in 2002. It is clear for all on this side of the House to see that tax cutting proposals, which were never viable, had to be abandoned in the face of a €2 billion shortfall in tax revenues. Despite much talk about value for money, no mention was made in yesterday's budget of how value for money will be achieved.

The budget is a bitter disappointment to those who were promised by the Government that more families would be entitled to the medical card. In the programme for Government, Fianna Fáil promised to double the income limit eligibility for parents of children under six and treble it for parents of children with a disability. Fianna Fáil has reneged on this commitment. The Government could well afford to extend the medical card to all children under 18. Once again, low to middle-income families have been let down and are bearing the brunt of the inequality in our health services.

As we enter 2008, we can look back on a record of broken promises, failed policies and missed opportunities. Instead of using the benefits of recent wealth generation to help those most in need, Fianna Fáil and its recently acquired partners, the Green Party, have merely ensured a continuation of health, education and other quality of life disparities between those in need and those who have benefitted from a Government intent on promoting a culture of greed. I am confident the electorate will pass its judgment on this when next afforded the opportunity.

The Tánaiste has turned a €2.3 billion Exchequer surplus into a €5 billion deficit because of the sloppy, self-indulgent and wasteful way he has spent money for the past two or more years. This is the worst decline in Exchequer finances in the history of the State and it needs to debated. How and why did this happen? Six months ago, the Tánaiste stated he would entirely wipe out Government debt, yet we are borrowing €5 billion. This is nothing but incompetence on his behalf. The borrowed money will be spent on the €4 billion increase in current spending and €1 billion increase in capital spending.

As Deputy Bruton stated yesterday, the Tánaiste is a great man to have around six months after a property crash. While reform of stamp duty is welcome, it comes six months too late. Even with this new tiered stamp duty system, house buyers may still hold back on purchasing in the hope that property prices will drop further in the near future. For the past six months, economists and property specialists have been calling on the Tánaiste to introduce stamp duty reforms but he did nothing. With the number of people having their homes repossessed increasing by 20% over the past year and the majority of these repossessions being pursued by sub-prime lending firms, hard pressed mortgage holders will no doubt welcome this news.

According to the latest ESRI-Permanent TSB house price index, house prices have declined by 4.7% in the past 12 months, which is to be welcomed for those looking to purchase their first property. However, nurses and fire officers are still priced out of the property market and the reforms will not do much for them. Under the new residential stamp duty regime a typical house buyer in Dublin purchasing a house costing €400,000 will save €10,750. However, had Fine Gael been in Government, the house buyer would have saved €15,000.

The Government has delivered half the number of social and affordable units it promised at a time when 310,000 homes are vacant. What plans has the Tánaiste to ensure that the thousands of people on housing waiting lists find homes in the near future?

Higher hospital and drugs charges will take another €50 million out of the pockets of families. The Minister for Health and Children has given up on the most vulnerable in society by imposing stealth taxes in accident and emergency units and hospital bed charges and by raising the bar on the drug refund scheme from €85 to €90 per month. Her stubborn refusal to increase the income threshold for medical cards, which currently stands at €184 per week for a single person — €13.80 lower than the social welfare payment — means that people who have the misfortune to earn more than half the minimum wage will be denied medical cards. That is nothing short of scandalous.

The Government's neglect of mental health and suicide prevention measures was perpetuated by the absence of these vital issues from the budget announcements. One in four people will suffer from some form of psychiatric illness in his or her lifetime, so this issue must be taken seriously. It is reported that 500 people take their own lives and 80,000 attempt suicide or self-harm annually. These grim facts appear to have escaped the Government when it outlined its spending plans for the year ahead.

After ten years of the Celtic tiger, do we have leading edge infrastructure, a world-class health service or efficiency in the public service? Unfortunately, the answer is "no". The Tánaiste has blown a huge tax bonanza and he has spurned every opportunity for public service reform. This budget avoided the hard decisions and there has been no fresh start because the talk of budget reform is hollow. Once again, ordinary families and small businesses will have to pay. This has been a dull and uninspiring budget from a Tánaiste happy to take the easy option rather than show leadership in driving change. Budgeting in boom times is easy work but it is more demanding to produce budgets in tough times. Much more could have been achieved yesterday than this disappointing budget which will have no lasting impact.

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