Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)

One of the new catchphrases is "consensus". It strikes me as somewhat strange because it is the first time I have heard it in here in 11 years. There was no consensus when decentralisation was announced. No one looked for consensus when they were trying to build the "Bertie bowl", so it is strange that the Government is looking for it now. Fine Gael has always been constructive in putting forward proposals, but none of them has been taken on board. It is strange that the Government now wants consensus, but we welcome it.

Another word much in use is "global". There are three issues, namely, the public finances, the banks and our economy. Deputy Quinn is in the House and he must be shell-shocked at the way the public finances have deteriorated since he left the Department of Finance several years ago. We have no one to blame but ourselves. We could claim that, due to the global economic crisis, there would be deterioration over a period in the public finances, but the dramatic fall has come about because of our policies. They are linked to the difficulties of the banking sector which also arose from our policies, with complete concentration on the construction industry and no regulation in the banking system. We cannot blame Lehmann's or anyone else. We cannot blame the oil crisis. This was our own creation.

My good friend, former Deputy Charlie McCreevy, was the Minister for Finance for a while, and then we had the current Taoiseach, Deputy Brian Cowen. Regarding the export economy, competitiveness slid down the scale. It is not as if this issue fell out of the sky, six or nine months ago. In budget speech after budget speech, Deputy Richard Bruton outlined the catastrophe we were headed for, but no one believed him. It was a case of "eat drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die".

The accusation has been made that we never come up with ideas, so I want to throw out a few issues. In my special area of interest, foreign affairs, the largest part of the budget is for Irish Aid. There is a great desire to achieve the budget target, which was meant to be 0.7% of GNP by 2015. This was very worthwhile funding, but, as the economy contracts, the amount of funding for Irish Aid will also contract. It happened in the last year, where funding was reduced by €40 million or €50 million. We have to explore every avenue to determine how we may assist the economy and yet keep the Irish Aid budget in place. I ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs, and the Minister of State with specific responsibility for overseas aid, Deputy Peter Power, to examine the concept of people employed in this country who have certain skills that might be beneficial to programme or Third World countries. Perhaps, instead of paying them unemployment benefit at home, they could be paid the same amount or an increase, based on the average industrial wage, if they wish to go and work abroad. They might be able to link in with the aid agencies or programme countries and use their skills abroad. That would assist Ireland while greatly helping the individual concerned and ultimately lead to a regeneration of our economy by using this funding in a more fruitful manner. I would like this examined.

From some private conversations I have had with aid agencies, however, it seems they might be reluctant to go down that road. They tend to be opposed to the whole concept of tied aid. Nonetheless, this is something that should be examined and the Minister should explore its possibilities.

As regards the private sector paying for the public sector, Fine Gael is often accused of putting the boot into the latter, which is not true. However, we must remember that, ultimately, the private sector actually pays for the public sector. We need a vibrant public sector and we cannot have an economy without it. It must be acknowledged that some reform has taken place, for example, in the Department of Defence. Great reforms have taken place within the Defence Forces over the past seven or eight years, which is very welcome. The Revenue Commissioners have been reformed and do an excellent job. They bring in much more money than they used to. I do not know what they were doing in previous generations, but they are now more active and very efficient. However, there are many other areas of the public sector that could improve and that is what we want. We want value for money and an efficient public sector, where people are paid a fair wage for carrying out fruitful work for the benefit of the economy.

Much legislation has been passed in this House which impacts on the efficiency of the economy. A time of crisis affords us the opportunity to look at this area, for example, regarding the services industry and the hotel and restaurant trade. The National Employment Rights Authority, NERA, is quite rightly implementing the legislation, but anomalies are sweeping this country like a black plague because of our laws. I know the Minister of State, Deputy Kelleher, is seeking to address the matter of agreements which were introduced several decades ago, long before the minimum wage agreement was introduced, that are actually hindering businesses. I am aware of some businesses where employers and employees on both sides of the industrial divide had to sign a document to the effect that they were happy with the status quo to protect jobs, keep costs down and maintain employment. However, this is not allowed by regulation. NERA stepped in and said it could not be done.

Regarding the funding of local government, while the number of businesses has increased, we must look at a fair and reasonable mechanism. It is unsatisfactory that a small sector of society, whether businesses or people building houses, with the development levy, are paying for benefits we all enjoy. Taxation will only survive if it is equitable over time. While we talk of public service cutbacks in this downturn, services and professions must also cut back. I know an individual who paid something in the region of €148 for a blood test in a well-established medical centre in this city. Within the last few days, however, he had to pay €192 for the same service.

The builder, baker, candlestick maker, solicitor, architect or whoever must look into his or her heart and take a cut. I would urge consumers to put it to them. It did not take long for inflation and costs to creep up. The same urgency is not being seen towards the lowering of costs, however. Consumers should put the case to their friendly doctor, or whoever.

An unemployed person may have a desire to make a contribution to society instead of lining up to get his or her money. It is humiliating for them. I am lucky enough never to have stood on a dole queue and hopefully I never will, but the day may come. I would love the opportunity to be a classroom assistant, assist the local authority or work in a local hospital for the same wage rather than be at home and queue up once a week.

We must be innovative and examine such ideas. It is not a right-wing economic theory. It is a socially minded policy that would keep people's integrity, keep their hopes up and allow them to make a contribution. We must examine that. It is an enhancement of the FÁS schemes. Our education system is crumbling due to the difficulties teachers have, particularly at primary school where children are creating difficulties. They are crying out for classroom assistants, not necessarily resource teachers or additional expertise. This is a way we could work on it.

Some 70,000 houses lie idle. I ask the Government to examine the concept of reducing VAT on them for a two year period. The VAT on 70,000 houses would bring in approximately €2.5 billion. If we reduced it from 13.5% to 10% the yield would still be over €2 billion if they were all sold. It might give that stimulus. We need to examine these possibilities.

I do not know much about nuclear power but it is a poor country that cannot explore the issue. We should examine energy. We need to cut the number of committees by half and examine our practices. Anything we apply to ourselves we should be willing to apply to the public sector. I am not into this populist self-sacrifice.

The public is sick of bad news. Today I saw the front of a newspaper that said Sebastian Barry's book was "flawed", despite the fact that he won an award. We need to be positive. Let us forget about moaning on chat shows. Let us send out positive information.

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