Bobby Aylward (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)

I thank my esteemed colleague, Deputy O'Rourke, for sharing her time and for the compliment. I appreciate it as I am sure I will not get many more today.

The intensity of the public debate surrounding this budget has been ferocious and the public response has been extremely hostile so far. Granted, the issue which has received the most focus is emotive and does not easily lend itself to rational discussion. We can learn some very useful and constructive lessons from this controversy. It is now high time to have a cool head and reflect calmly on the issues this debate has thrown up. We must move on in a more enlightened and even-handed way.

As a nation, we must face up to the acute and pervasive problems which will affect all of us in one way or another. We must take these problems very seriously and we must all act with a strong and deliberate sense of public duty. We must approach our circumstances with a reinforced unity of purpose.

We are confronted by adversity now and the truth is we are not used to that. It is incumbent on all of us now, politicians and citizens alike, to behave wisely and reasonably. The national interest, both on an economic and a social level, are at stake and the quicker we all realise that, the better. The corrective policies which we adopt now are vital if we want to restore order and stability to the public finances and to the economy in general.

It is very important that the central thrust of this Government's intention should not be lost in all the emotion, the political drama and the arguments which have been played out everywhere in the past week or more. We cannot afford to allow ourselves to be deflected from our main job of work, which entails many hard choices and tough decisions. We must take remedial action now to ensure we manage the public finances correctly and continue to promote economic growth and prosperity when we emerge from the doldrums of the current global crisis.

We cannot delude ourselves. We must all remember and understand that we are now living in severely altered circumstances compared to those which prevailed up to very recently. The harsh reality is that our revenues are vastly depleted compared to those we have had at our disposal and which we have enjoyed. The bald fact is we have much less money to share and there are ever-increasing demands on the public purse. We must make judicious decisions about where that money is spent. We have so many competing and deserving interests but the onus is on the Government to ensure that the taxpayers' money is spent carefully and invested prudently. The Government is compelled to make these strategic decisions based on the bigger national picture and take the overall long view.

We must understand that the Government is motivated purely and simply by financial practicalities and fiscal constraints. The clear intention is to economise and allocate the available resources evenly and fairly while at the same time identifying areas of spending which can be reduced. This — no more and no less — is in the national interest.

The Government is driven by the clear need to cut its cloth to suit its measure and the budget is formulated in the context of much less money to go around on everyone. The overriding imperative is to direct these scarce resources to those who need them most, which is basic common sense.

It is not the intention of the Government to victimise or penalise any section of our society. It is not the intention to cause hardship, rather, this is a concerted and genuine attempt to tackle some of the more expensive aspects of our recurring costs. Public expenditure must be reduced as much as possible on the current side and as much as is practical on the capital side.

The Government's objective is to effect real savings in areas where they should be attained and where escalating costs cannot be justified. The stark reality with which we must grapple is that tax revenues will diminish for the next couple of years. While we have many bitter pills to swallow to rectify our position, if we take our medicine now we can maintain our living standards in the longer term. We have enjoyed so much comfort in the past 12 years or so that we now find it hard to adjust our collective mentality. We have grown accustomed to unprecedented levels of prosperity and it seems to be difficult to adapt to a more frugal approach. However, we have no choice but to adjust our priorities immediately.

The Government is being realistic. It recognises that shrewd management of the public finances is essential at this time. We must cut back on our expenditure and we must find savings wherever we can. The Government is acting with honourable intent and its bona fides are genuine.

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