Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)

Prior to the introduction of budget 2009, Members on this side of the House, and I have no doubt Members on the other side, had great expectations. We all knew tough decisions needed to be made but what we did not know was that those decisions would affect the young, the vulnerable and the elderly.

The Government's budget, introduced two weeks ago, is a missed opportunity. Many of the cuts will affect pivotal sectors, including the education sector and particularly primary and secondary education. During the past couple of weeks, my office has been inundated with calls from parents, teachers and teachers' unions who have described as a disgrace what the Government has done to education in Ireland. A child gets only one chance at primary education as compared to two, three or four chances to access third level education.

In opting to increase class sizes, the Government did not give adequate consideration to what it was doing. The teacher unions showed their anger and frustration last week when they protested on the streets of Dublin against what the Government has done. At a recent INTO meeting in my own county, I heard parents speak of their despair that their children, who are encountering serious difficulties in primary education, will no longer get the help they need.

In my seven year political career, I have not witnessed the type of anger that was expressed by the elderly in the Westland Row church the week after the budget was announced about the withdrawal of medical cards from people over 70 years of age by the Government. The over-70s are to be congratulated on the manner in which they ran their campaign. While I welcome the Government's reversal of that decision, I do not believe it has gone far enough. I have spoken to many retired people in receipt of old age pensions who have put away approximately €20,000 or €30,000 for a rainy day. I am sure the Minister will agree these people are not among the 5% of our population who are the richest in this country. I have no doubt that every Member's office will be inundated with calls when elderly people receive letters from the Health Service Executive stating they have to re-apply for their medical cards.

I attended a lobbying session today of the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association, ICMSA. I spoke to farmers, their sons and other younger farmers. What the Government has done to the agricultural industry in this budget is wholly disgraceful. There must be incentives if we are to encourage people into agriculture. Two of the more important incentives were the opportunity for a mother or father to retire and installation aid as a cushioned payment for a younger farmer coming in. I come from a farming background and no younger farmer will want to come into the agricultural industry when he or she sees what the Government has done.

Fine Gael has highlighted a number of these bad decisions over the past two to three weeks. It is amazing when one listens to the Government's backbenchers because they are fully in agreement with the wrong decisions made by the Minister for Finance. The Green Party has gone into hiding over the past number of days. I was amazed to hear Deputy Mary White on my local radio station after the budget. She was asked why she gave the Minister a standing ovation and she replied she was overwhelmed by the contents of the budget. She is one of the people speaking out of both sides of their mouths over the past number of weeks.

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