Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)

I gather from these resolutions that the Government has effectively abandoned any prospect of getting a pay agreement through the social partnership process. This resolution is levelling an inflationary, regressive tax on the backs of increasingly overburdened working people. In that context, I must assume that is the Government's position on the pay agreement.

On the basis of the figures supplied and subject to correction by officials, I calculate that we are looking at a 0.77% increase in the rate of inflation. There is no figure given for the betting tax, but most of the figures relating to betting are works of elaborate fiction anyway. It appears that the Government is determined to go down a regressive road. The thinking behind this budget, as manifest in this resolution, indicates that the Government has failed the test. This will not correct the main problem that we have, namely, the structural gap between revenue and expenditure. The Government's temporary 10% cut in salary is simply a sop, with no reference made to the postponed pay increase vis-À-vis pensions and salaries.

The Government is dealing a major blow to the tourism industry by increasing costs. That will affect the west in particular, which has become highly uncompetitive as a tourism destination.

I ask the Tánaiste what the critical threshold was with regard to increasing the tax on tobacco. The increase proposed is actually quite small. With regard to smuggling and the criminality associated with it, I was given to understand that the Garda has had a handle on that for some time now and that the kind of smuggling that occurred eight or ten years ago has been dealt with. Would the Tánaiste agree that the Government could have imposed a higher levy on cigarettes, given the extra resources and experience of the Garda in this area?

While this is not directly relevant to the resolutions before us, I ask the Tánaiste to clarify an issue for the House. I presume the €200 per year charge for a car parking slot will apply to these premises and to the entire Civil Service. Will that mean that we will all have a designated car parking space?

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