Margaret Conlon (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)

Chuir an Taoiseach an plean atá ag an Rialtas os comhair na Dála inné. Ceapaim go gcuideoidh a bhfuil ráite ag an Taoiseach inné le smachtú caitheachais. Rinne an Rialtas an-iarracht aghaidh a thabhairt ar na deachrachtaí. Táimid i gruachás. Teastaíonn cabhair uainn. Caithfimid go léir tarraingt le chéile.

The decisions taken yesterday were necessary to help stabilise the public finances. Yesterday, there were no job losses in the public sector. A lot of pain is being asked of the public sector's employees and no one likes to feel pain. I have spoken to many public servants in recent months and they all accept and agree that there is a need for public sector reform and cuts but they are quick to point out what everyone else should forgo as long as they are okay. The "I'm all right Jack" mentality is alive and well. Public servants have not been forced to go on the live register, unlike 120,000 private sector workers in recent times.

Deputy Jim O'Keeffe referred to the cut in overseas development aid, ODA. The allocation for 2009 was set at €891 million in the budget last October and this will be reduced to €796 million. Even after this realignment, Ireland's ODA percentage rate exceeds that of the United Kingdom, the United States and most EU member states, while it is inferior only to that of Holland, the Nordic states and Luxembourg. The Government still has the target of 0.7% of GNP by 2012 dedicated to ODA.

In budget 2009 it was decided that the additional costs of the pay increase due on 1 September 2009 would be met through administrative efficiencies. The pay increase has been deferred and €50 million of the efficiency savings is being retained for the Exchequer. These savings will arise from greater efficiencies in Departments and offices in both pay and non-pay areas. People have looked for efficiencies in these areas for a long time.

The Government has decided there will be no payments under Towards 2016, leading to a further saving in 2010 of more than €1 billion. I accept this decision is also unpopular but we have to cut our cloth to fit our measure. As a housewife and mother, if I cannot afford something in the home, I do not get it. Boom and bust policies got us into dire straits in the 1980s and we cannot go back to that——

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