Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

If this is a year for tight and close monitoring of the economy why, just last month, did the Taoiseach say there would be no change of course? If we are actually spending 50% more than the economy is generating, this is a situation that cannot continue. The unemployment figure is rising and redundancies are up by 20% in the first two months of this year. The cost of living is increasing for everybody and this is obvious to anyone buying food and paying for energy. People are being squeezed to an unprecedented degree. This is no longer just a construction sector problem. The Government will not be able to trade its way out of this because we have lost export share for each of the past five years.

The Taoiseach still has not told the House that he recognises the problem. Unfortunately it is the case now that when members of the Opposition speak about a matter of national importance or the national economy, they will be accused by some people sitting behind the Taoiseach of being guilty of either personal or national sabotage.

In the context of the economy over which the Taoiseach and his first mate preside with sloppy and wasteful management of public taxes, does he recognise we have a problem? Does he recognise that if this continues, by mid-year the usual response of his Government will be a knee-jerk reaction? It is reported that future further cutbacks of €300 million in the HSE will apply across every sector with the bureaucracy being the one area protected while front line staff will again be hit, be they home helps, nurses or specialist teachers. This is what happens in mid-year when the Taoiseach recognises we are on a wrong course and that corrective action should be taken and confidence restored. This is the Taoiseach's duty and also that of his first mate.

I refer to this leaking of confidence from the economy. Given that the European Commission just last month published a report which spoke clearly of the deterioration of the public finances in Ireland and given the figures that emerged yesterday, how many more reputable bodies will have to produce reports or make economic commentaries before this Government actually recognises that there is a problem, that we are not on the course plotted by the Taoiseach and the Minister for Finance two months ago and that this is now a situation where confidence is leaking away and where corrective action should be taken immediately? I ask the Taoiseach to say what this corrective action will be and how he intends to restore confidence so that this situation can be corrected.

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