Ulick Burke (Galway East, Fine Gael)

I am glad to have the opportunity to say a few words on the Finance Bill. In Ireland, there are not many sections of society that would have confidence in this Government and Deputy Brian Lenihan as Minister for Finance to take this country out of the state of crisis in terms of finance, employment or otherwise. I refer to the cuts brought in by the budget last month and the instant angry reaction that so many sections of society have shown on the streets of this city and throughout the country. I do not know if the Government realises the anger that exists in the population at large because of the waste we have had from this Government over the past ten years. The poor, the elderly and the infirm must bear the consequences of the lack of action in the past.

Many Members on the Government side have built up the idea of the wonderful support the Government has given to new start-up businesses. If they went outside the door of this House they would realise the difficulties small businesses have in this country. How can people in government reconcile that fact with what is happening in agriculture? The Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food has introduced cuts, particularly in the area of young, start-up farmers. I refer to the installation aid scheme, which was cut and abandoned. Will the Minister examine the effect this is having? There are 400-500 young farmers in this country who have some degree of involvement in the installation aid scheme. Some have a major investment in the scheme, others to a lesser extent. I hope the Minister for Finance or the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food will withdraw the savage cuts in that area and allow the young farmers who want to get involved in agriculture and who want a livelihood in this country to go ahead, particularly those who have had an involvement to date. It is a costly process but they believe it is important to them to do so.

The loss to the farming community as a result of cutting the suckler cow scheme by €40 per head and the disadvantaged area scheme will be €1,200 to any farmer and family community in County Galway. That is the statistic for everyone to see. On top of the 1% levy, other cuts and the increase in bus fares for children there is a realisation that what the Minister is doing is cutting and hurting the opportunity for people to make a livelihood in the west, particularly in County Galway. The Minister must re-examine those schemes again.

What has been done in education? I do not believe the Minister for Education and Science understands the consequences of the cutbacks he has introduced. In the instance of substitution, he blames teachers and queries the legitimacy of many of those who are out for whatever reason. That is an indicator that he is not familiar with the everyday working of a school situation. There will be chaos on 1 January and a demand from school management to withdraw all involvement in all extracurricular activity in school life, whether at second level or where principals will be forced to send children home to their parents at primary level. When that happens, the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Education and Science will have to take responsibility for it. The Minister for Finance will not do so, he has walked away from everything and shaking his head is the negative response he has.

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