Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

It is proposed in the motion that Dáil Éireann should not adjourn for the summer recess until 24 July at the earliest and return in early September. The country faces four major problems, the first of which is the economy. Once the pride of Europe and the envy of the world, the economy is now heading towards recession. In the past year unemployment has risen by the highest numbers in 40 years, breaking through the 200,000 mark. Prices are increasing, while economic growth is down. Related to the economic problem are the changed fortunes of the public finances. Two years ago the State had an Exchequer surplus of €5 billion. This year it has a deficit of €1.5 billion. Departments are working with the rulers to identify where cuts will be imposed.

Following last week's decision in the referendum, the country faces its largest diplomatic challenge since World War II, as we find ourselves in a new place in our relationship with the European Union. The final challenge the country faces — a factor in the referendum outcome — is the erosion of confidence in politics in the past ten years. A decade of revelations about Charvet shirts, bets on horses at race meetings that never happened and other cock and bull stories at tribunals are eventually settling not just those who were culpable but the body politic as a whole. In the circumstances it would be unthinkable and irresponsible for the Dáil to suspend public business for three months. The Government in its amendment to the motion proposes an extra week of sittings — an extra week of statements on the national development plan, with no parliamentary questions, Order of Business or Leaders' Questions. No normal parliamentary exchange for this long week of extra sittings is simply an unacceptable alternative.

I know every year there is a discussion about the summer recess and, to a certain extent, the general arguments are well rehearsed. The Labour Party has consistently argued for a lengthening of the Dáil's sitting year, one of the shortest in any parliament. The last year for which comparable figures are available is 2005 when Dáil Éireann sat for 92 days; the House of Commons for 133 days; the US Senate, 159 days; the US Houses of Representatives, 140 days, and the Chamber of Deputies in Italy, 159 days. Against this, the argument is made that no Deputy takes a holiday but works in his or her constituency while the work of the important Oireachtas committees continues until the end of July. I accept this is true. Any Deputy who takes a three-month holiday is unlikely to remain a Deputy for long, particularly in the highly competitive electoral environment in which we all must survive. However, the long summer recesses taken by the House invite a public odium on the way in which it does its business. Apart from the public odium it attracts, this year, more than any other, there is an unanswerable case for keeping the House in session and conducting the business of the Government in public. The message from the House must be that Deputies are not going on holiday because matters are serious and leave is cancelled.

For months the Government has sought to ignore the deterioration in the economy. Earlier today I was struck by the degree of denial in the Taoiseach's replies to questions on the economy. It is as if he does not get the message the rest of the country has received. The Government has sought to ignore the accumulating facts; where it cannot avoid them, it blames someone else. That simply cannot continue. We must address the pressing concerns that are creating much uncertainty and hardship among the people. For months there has been mounting evidence that Ireland is facing into a recession. The scale of the slump in house building, of the Government's own making, is such that it could drag us into a position where there will be no growth this year. Davy Stockbrokers expects 45,000 houses to be built this year and only 29,000 in 2009. As a result, the Central Statistics Office reports its index of construction employment is down by 14% in the year to April.

The downturn is no longer confined to construction. Strong evidence is emerging that expectations are falling across the economy and consumer sentiment is taking a hammering. The volume of retail sales fell in April by 3.2% when compared to that in April 2007. The ESRI index of consumer sentiment has been falling rapidly. Sluggish consumption growth has serious implications for employment, especially in the services sector. Unemployment is rising, with the live register increasing by 48,000 in the past 12 months. Since the beginning of the year, the number signing on, seasonally adjusted, has increased by 235 each day. That is the equivalent of a factory closing every day of the week.

All this has had serious implications for the public finances. It has been made much worse by the manner in which the Exchequer was allowed to become heavily dependent on the construction sector. Tax revenues for the first five months of the year were approximately €1.5 billion below those in the same period last year and €1.2 billion below target. It is clear the budget forecasts published last December are redundant, as is the economic strategy which underlay them. What is required is that the Government come to the House with a new set of budgetary tables that reflect the new realities and propose a set of actions to address them.

I do not underestimate the scale of the Government's problems. All Members must acknowledge that the public finances must be returned to a sustainable path. However, if the Government acts too quickly, it runs the risk of making the problem worse. What is required is that confidence be restored by a restatement of economic policy, including a statement of how, over several years, the public finances can be brought back into good order. The cold language of the public finances, however, will not express what all of this means for hard-working men and women and their families. It means hardship. It means worrying about how to pay the bills and meet mortgage repayments. A report published yesterday showed that 37% of people found it difficult to meet their daily bills. Another report today shows the extent to which people on low incomes are facing real fuel poverty. We know of the pressures on people in dealing with accumulated loans that must now be repaid with higher interest and we know of the concerns of people for their jobs and businesses.

We know too of the pressures on people as a result of rising prices, of people going shopping and finding the price of basic necessities like bread and milk are constantly going up. It means finding that where you once paid €40 to €50 to fill the tank in your car, you are now paying €60 to €70. Last week, RTE carried pictures of a scene from Galway which was once familiar, but which I had hoped we would never see again. These were pictures of queues outside the social welfare office — dole queues.

That is the new reality of the economy that cannot be ignored. The changes in the public finances have significant implications for public services. We already have a health service that is not working and we now know that Departments are already preparing the cuts in services which will be implemented or are intended to be implemented as a result of the change in the public finances. The Taoiseach today referred to them as "temporary adjustments". We are talking about cutbacks.

When this House goes into recess, the Government's intention is that Ministers and Departments will be deciding what public services will be cut.

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