Dáil debates

Thursday, 5 February 2009

Stabilisation of the Public Finances: Motion (Resumed)

 

11:00 am

Photo of Olivia MitchellOlivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

Fine Gael has been critical of the Government for not taking action and for delaying action on bringing spending under control so we welcome the fact that action has finally been taken. However, we have serious concerns about the action and the extent of it. We were told the pensions levy would account for almost three quarters of the total take but in my view it is taking a disproportionate amount from the lower paid. I contend that the contributions to pensions, including Members' pensions, still make for great value and even allowing for the increase these are pensions that could not be bought on the open market. Nevertheless, it is unfair on young people on very modest incomes. Such people may have made financial commitments and have bought houses and have planned their expenditure for a mortgage, perhaps borrowing funds to decorate the house or for school fees. People have made commitments and to now make changes of the order of this magnitude is grossly unfair, particularly for young people starting out. People need certainty and there is no certainty. They do not expect such change to come from the Government, for the Government to pull the rug from under their feet.

I am also concerned at the magnitude of the pension take as a percentage of earnings. It is very difficult to ask people to do their patriotic duty and pay this levy when the money is going into the black hole of completely unreformed Government spending. How can I go out and say to a young teacher or a young nurse who has just qualified and who has taken on a mortgage for an apartment bought at the height of the market, that his or her money, their contribution of €4,000 or €6,000 in the pension levy, is going to be used to store e-voting machines or to buy a box in Thomond Park for some quango or to perpetuate some quango whose purpose has long since been forgotten? It is indefensible to take people's money and to continue to spend it in the same old wasteful way, with no attempt to restructure the way spending decisions are made or to tackle and root out spending programmes that have long outlived their usefulness.

FÁS is one organisation that certainly needs to be reformed. The Taoiseach has stated that there could be 400,000 unemployed by the end of the year. What is happening in FÁS? It has a budget of €1 billion. Back in the 1980s FÁS provided literacy courses and community employment schemes for the unemployed and these were satisfactory for that time. However, the people losing their jobs now are already highly educated. How is FÁS planning to deal with such people who are now unemployed? Who will retrain the architects, the bankers, the Dell workers and the quantity surveyors, who are being thrown onto the job market daily and in huge numbers? I have no confidence that the Government has done anything to gear up FÁS or whether it even realises there is a problem. Deputy Fahey identified the problem and his solution was to set up another quango. Are they for real on the other side of the House?

For weeks the Government has been telling the House that the Government would reduce the expenditure bill by €2 billion this year and by €4 billion next year. Does the Government think it will be easier next year to cut back spending?

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