Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North, Fine Gael)

When one shares a speaking slot with Deputy Ring, one has to be ready to bring the tone down a little. Having listened to several Government speakers over the course of the afternoon, it seems to me that they are almost trying to blame Fine Gael for the current crisis. They suggest in some way that Fine Gael Deputies should vote in favour of the Government's budgetary policies.

Deputies referred to the 1980s. I remind the many Fianna Fáil Deputies who were not in this House at this time that Fianna Fáil was in power for five and a half years in the 1980s. When Fianna Fáil went into government in 1977, the national debt was approximately £4 billion. When that party left office in 1981, the national debt had increased to £12 billion. Previous speakers mentioned that the national debt doubled under Fine Gael in the 1980s, which is fair enough, but I remind them that the increase resulted from the economic policies pursued by Fianna Fáil when it was in government between 1977 and 1981. We all remember the auction politics of 1977. I was a young teacher at the time, so I was delighted not to have to pay tax on my car or pay rates on my house as a result of the give-away budget of 1978. When Albert Reynolds was interviewed not long after he became Taoiseach, he dissociated himself from the budget in question. History is being repeated. The reckless decisions made since 1997, when Fine Gael was last in government, are coming home to roost. This crisis has resulted from the bad governance of the past ten years.

I accept that the banking crisis is having an effect throughout the world. It is worrying to note that Bank of Ireland's share price, which was almost €20 at one stage, decreased to €1.85 today. The Irish banks, with the full encouragement of the Government, gave money to Irish speculators and investors so they could become the main competitors for property in places like Manhattan in New York, London, Los Angeles and eastern Europe. Now that the property bubble has burst, the banks in question are left with very bad debts. I hope we will not have to come back here in a few weeks not to merely secure the banks' loans, but to invest money in the banks to keep them afloat, which is what other European countries have had to do. I will get a chance to comment further on the issue of economic recklessness during tomorrow's debate.

I will pick up on a point made by Deputy Ring. I hope the people the Government intends to appoint to supervise the banks will be the best people available. I accept that some of those who work for semi-State and State bodies are good at their jobs, but one of the reasons this country is facing such difficulties is that most of the people in question were appointed because they are affiliated with Fianna Fáil. I was in Government for a short period as a Minister of State. I had responsibility for the appointment of one chairman of a State body. I thought I made a good decision and I did not even ask the man his politics. That is not the case with Fianna Fáil Governments, as they make sure that their appointments are of the right colour most of the time. I hope they put the right people in these banks in future.

The percentage of GDP spent on defence in Ireland is the lowest in Europe. After this budget, it will have been reduced to 6.5%. We were actually spending more on defence 20 years ago as a percentage of GDP than we are spending now. There are some aspects of the defence budget to which I would like to refer. It was announced in the budget that the barracks in Longford, Monaghan, Rockhill and Lifford will be closed. There may be some merit in closing barracks due to the pressure on the Defence Forces to provide personnel. However, the staff in these locations have been told today that they must be out of the barracks by the end of January. That is just 14 weeks to close these barracks. Many of these barracks have been in place for a long time. No consideration has been given to those who will have to travel to places likes Finner Camp in Donegal, even though it will involve a round trip of 150 miles for some of the people involved. There is no consideration at all for family disruption and for the changes in living circumstances.

Some of these barracks contain cavalry squadrons and equipment will have to be moved. The staff of Clancy Barracks were transferred to the Curragh ten years ago, yet there is still equipment that remains to be transferred. However, the Government expects the 650 army personnel to move in 14 weeks. This is disgraceful. It is an awful way to treat people who have served the State very well. There is a proposal to decentralise the Department of Defence to the Curragh. The preparations for this have been ongoing for four years, but not one person has been moved yet. It just does not add up and the military people are absolutely disgusted at what is happening.

There are no living quarters in Finner Camp, so many of the people being forced to move there will eventually be moved to Ballyshannon and Bundoran. That will mean changing schools and houses, and this will cause major disruption in their lives. There are also personnel from these barracks who are overseas. Will the Minister allow them to come back so that they can make arrangements? The whole thing is very badly thought out, and I would like the official here tonight to deliver that message to the Minister, who has admitted before that he would prefer to be in some in other Department. Every Minister should be enthusiastic about his or her Department, no matter what one it is. However, the current Minister for Defence has shown total indifference to this major issue.

The Government has been asking us to come up with proposals to save money. I have a proposal for the Minister of State here tonight, Deputy Kelleher, and he is a practical individual. The Asgard II sank off the coast of France. Fortunately, nobody was injured and there was no loss of life. The Asgard II lies about 70 metres under water off the French coast and it will be very difficult and expensive to salvage. According to the newspapers it would cost €5.6 million to replace the ship, but we already have a superior ship. The cost of building the Jeanie Johnston was the subject of much criticism when it was launched in 2002. The Dublin Docklands Development Authority now owns the ship. It is an ideal opportunity for this ship to become the State training vessel. It would save the State more than €5.6 million and we would get value for the investment in the Jeanie Johnston. The ship has figured prominently in many of the major sailing events all over Europe and the world. It sailed via the Canaries and the Caribbean to the east coast of the US, and then came back across the North Atlantic. It was hit by very hard winds and sailed through tough maritime conditions, but it survived and showed itself to be a very sturdy vessel. This is an ideal opportunity for the Government to use the ship.

There is a decrease of around 11% in the arts budget this year. The Estimate for the Department last year was €85 million, but it is marked down here as €82 million. I remember the Minister bringing in a supplementary budget before Christmas of €3 million, which was added to the arts budget. Therefore, the reduction is closer to 11% than the 8% stated. The Arts Council will be under major pressure to keep its programmes going. The time to invest in arts is when our economy is in trouble, because it is an investment in creativity. We are looking at high-end jobs. What better way to obtain that creativity than by investing in the arts?

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