Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

How does he justify cutting 8% from the budget for youth services at a time when society is concerned about what is happening on our streets? We need to provide worthwhile activities for our young people.

Deputy Frank Fahey challenged me and the Labour Party about where we would get the money. I have two answers to that. First, the Government is not making savings at all because down the line it will have to pay for this kind of "penny wise, pound foolish" approach to education. If the Government makes it harder for a child to learn in primary school, it will have to pick up the cost in remedial teaching at secondary school. Reducing subject choice at second level makes it more difficult for people to participate in third level. Ultimately, that makes it harder for the economy to recover. Those who fall through the cracks in the education system because of underfunding will end up costing money through additional bills for social welfare, health and justice.

Second, Deputy Fahey should examine the curious arrangement the Government has made with the banks. We had a bail out scheme for the banks which was the talk of the country for weeks. The Taoiseach told us: "Don't worry about it. It will never be called in because the banks, collectively, will pay for it. If a bank goes to the wall, the other banks will club together and do it." It was even written into the scheme that banks participating in it would agree to indemnify the Minister in respect of any payments covering liabilities made by the Minister following a claim made under the guarantee. The ink was hardly dry on that scheme, however, when the Government did a sweetheart deal with the same banks. The Department of Finance website published an arrangement whereby a covered institution is not required to indemnify the Minister in respect of any payments made by the Minister under a guarantee given by any covered institution which is not a member of its corporate group.

While this Government is bringing in one of the most savage budgets in the history of the State, it is giving the nod and wink to the banks that it has asked the Irish taxpayer to bail out. It is a nod and wink for the banks, but the lámh láidir for the poor school pupils.

I am not angry at the Green Party, I am just sad about it. I heard the contributions from the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, and from Deputy Paul Gogarty. I saw a party that is just beaten. Deputy Gogarty shrugs his shoulders and says: "That's politics." We are all political practitioners and we understand that politics involves compromise, and there can sometimes be a degree of grandstanding. Politics, however, also means standing for something. Unless one stands for something, there is no place for one in politics. I have always identified with what the Green Party has said and stood for, as well as the philosophy behind their politics. I have to ask myself today what does the Green Party stand for. The Green Party went to the people at the last general election saying they were going to look after education and they were going to look after children. They have let them all down. They have failed to honour that pledge and to stand up for education and for the children of the country. If a party cannot stand up for the very issue it put in biggest highlights in its party political broadcast and in its pre-election promises, is it any surprise that such a party drives a motorway through the Hill of Tara——

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