Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)

It is difficult to get into the mood to discuss the budget following such a heated debate. One must be very careful.

When I adjourned the debate yesterday evening, I was addressing my criticisms of the Government in failing to tackle the big picture. That failure has led to a series of silly cutbacks, which will cause untold harm and political damage to the entire system. I appeal to the Minister to ask the Fianna Fáil scriptwriters why they must always compare what is happening nowadays to what happened 12 years ago. Can we not move on and be more mature in dealing with issues? The circumstances 12 years were entirely different. Every time I hear a Government spokesperson, he or she makes comparisons with 1994, 1997 and 1982. This is so ridiculous that it is hardly worth commenting on because Fianna Fáil has been in power for 19 of the past 21 years.

Its Ministers have had 19 years to put the economy straight and there is no point comparing what they have done to what the coalition did between December 1994 and June 1997. They have had 19 out of the past 21 years to put everything right. They will have to admit they took over a healthy, strong economy in 1997. It was the first time in the history of the State that a budget surplus was achieved. This is an undeniable fact. I was pleased to be part of the outfit that handed over a strong economy to the Minister and his colleagues even though I had to surrender the keys of the Mercedes to people such as his good self. We are proud of what we did during the tenure of that good Government.

I refer to the cutbacks in health services. Fianna Fáil and its partners set up the HSE. They amalgamated all the health boards without putting in place a new management structure. The Minister for Finance said in his Budget Statement that he had suddenly discovered the HSE, since its establishment, had increased its workforce by 12% and created 1,900 administrative posts. He said he will have an investigation carried out and redundancy will be offered. People over 70 are being asked to surrender medical cards while everyone is being asked to pay increased charges for other services, yet the HSE has a budget €15 billion to cover the needs of a population of less than 4 million and has established an additional 1,900 posts since it was set up. How many medical cards would that buy? However, we must go through a process of persecuting groups of people who are badly in need of services.

The new charges include an increase of €34 for a visit to an accident and emergency department; an increase of €9 in the public hospital bed charge to €75; a 20% increase in the cost of private beds in public hospitals; and an increase of 20% in the long stay charge. One can imagine the hike in VHI charges a result of these increases. This has resulted from a failure in proper management and administration by the HSE and, lo and behold, the Minister for Health and Children, together with her Cabinet colleagues, has taken a political decision to deal with cutbacks in her budget by persecuting people aged over 70. If she cannot find €100 million in savings out of a budget of €15.8 billion without persecuting these people and increasing charges for those who are ill and need services, there is something radically wrong with the Government's management.

The Minister for Finance should not ask Opposition Members to be patriotic and to support these mad cutbacks when no one else supports him. I have no intention of supporting of such cutbacks. If there was no other option and the country was on its knees, I might consider it a form of patriotism. However, the HSE was allowed to go out of control and recruit 1,900 additional administrative staff. The failure of the Minister and the Government to put in place a new management structure for the body from day one leaves a great deal to be desired.

I refer to education cutbacks, including a reduced schools building programme, the abolition of substitute teachers from January 2009, the abolition of the equipment for resource teachers, a reduction in the Traveller education budget, the abolition of grants for physics and chemistry at a time our young people need to be educated in such subjects and a €7.5 million cutback in the funding for school books. Where are we going? College registration fees have been hiked to €1,500 despite there being no increase in the student maintenance grant. I have listened to various Government politicians saying how important it is to help children from disadvantaged areas to benefit from third level education, with which I agree, but how will these provisions help a child from a disadvantaged area to undertake third level education? It is not a question of merely getting into college, but of staying there as well. One needs bus fares to get to and from college. If one does not live nearby, one must stay overnight. One requires assistance with books and one needs pocket money.

I will give the House an example. I came from a local authority housing estate. My father was a postman and, because I grew up in an era without free education, I saw him working a turnstile at Croke Park on Sundays to pay for my second level education. I saw people's struggles. Today, those are the same people we are punishing. We are asking them to carry the burden of the problems created by the Government. Given that 19 of the past 21 years saw Fianna Fáil in government, it cannot blame anyone other than itself.

The Government is telling us that children from disadvantaged areas should be given every chance to attend college. However, it is not just a question of getting enough points to enter third level if one comes from a local authority housing estate and one's parents do not have any money. Who will pay for bus fares? Who will buy——

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