Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

Fine Gael, as a party, accepts the need for a reduction in expenditure but the Government should not expect us to like it. Like so many across the country, we are angry and frustrated that it has come to this. The vast majority of those being asked to accept pain, be it through what one calls a social solidarity pact or everyone putting his or her shoulder to the wheel, face income reductions, while others face job losses. The State will have to borrow significant funds that we will all need to repay long into the future.

Fianna Fáil-led Governments have led the country to virtual collapse. The Minister of State, Deputy Kelleher, spoke about the need to recognise what Ireland had achieved in the past ten to 15 years. The model that achieved growth and job creation is now broken and needs to be rebuilt in a different form. We need to find new ways of raising money and rebuilding competitiveness which is what got the Celtic tiger started in the first place.

The only way Ireland will recover from its current condition is by increasing export trade, attracting new investors and businesses with a view to creating jobs, and building on our domestic skills base to encourage new entrepreneurs to borrow, build and employ. The same approach must be taken as was adopted after the 1980s with a view to creating a competitive, attractive country in which to do business. This is not such a country because of sloppy, lazy, arrogant governance that allowed Ireland to lean on the crutch of the construction boom. When the revenue from the boom disappeared, Ireland's financial viability also collapsed. We must now cope with this.

Last night on "Prime Time" I heard the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform state Ireland had hit a wall, that it was nobody's fault and that it was everybody's fault. What a load of rubbish. It is people's fault. There are many events taking place that the Government cannot and does not control and which make existing domestic problems far more difficult to solve, but people need to know that we have a Government which is in charge and knows where we are going. The people are willing to put up with pain if they believe the Government's approach is part of a broader strategy to bring Ireland through the dark tunnel and out the other side. They do not believe this and the Government has not even managed to communicate the extent of the problem to them. They are finding out the extent of the problem by noting the reductions in their salaries and hearing yesterday's announcements.

We do not even have a Taoiseach with the political courage to stand before the nation and talk honestly about what has happened to Ireland, why it has happened and the way forward. Instead, we heard of meetings behind closed doors and efforts to do cosy political deals to obtain political cover for the hard cutbacks announced yesterday. Fine Gael will not facilitate this. It will, however, support responsible government. It offered yesterday to discuss options with the Government in an effort to achieve consensus in the House, given that it was not possible to do so with the social partners.

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