Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)

I congratulate the Labour Party on tabling this opportune motion at this time. I also congratulate Fine Gael on its amendment. This debate contributes to focusing on a serious issue facing the country. However, I must compliment the Government for its imagination and ingenuity. Government Members point across to this side of the House and ask what we are doing and why we are not suggesting how to lambaste the public and private sector in coming years.

A year and a half ago the ship of State was sailing before the winds. Everybody on board was happy. The captain and crew were dancing around the deck and they were laughing all the way to the bank. All their friends were with them clapping them on the back and telling them how good they were. They repeatedly said they had tested the economy and the fundamentals were sound. The captain and the crew celebrated on the basis that the engine room was perfect. The fundamentals were sound. The oil pressure was right and nothing could go wrong. Away they headed.

Then all of a sudden the ship came to a juddering halt — the Minister's own words. Everything fell around on deck. The captain and the crew are in a dazed state. What are they doing now? They are calling on the passers-by and asking them to do something. What would one have done? They failed to recognise that when they were cruising wildly before the storm the Opposition in this House called on the captain and the crew on countless occasions to take stock of what they were doing and because the fundamentals were not right there was a grave danger that they would come unstuck. Now that the ship is well and truly placed on the rocks and holed below the waterline, they come along and say, "Help us to bale it out. Help us to do something. Help us to beat the public over the head." To which we reply "No."

I reject the notion that the Opposition should be expected to lambaste or flog the unfortunate public who have done no wrong. The private sector has it coming to it as well because it is also going to get it shortly. It does not know it yet. As my colleagues have said, this is not a pensions levy — it has nothing to do with pensions. It is an income levy. It is the first step in beating down the people who allegedly were the cause of the problem. The public sector was certainly not the cause of the problem. The Government was the cause of the problem. It allowed some sectors to inflate costs to such an extent that nobody could stay on board. I do not know why in God's name the Government could not understand that.

At this stage the public sector is being blamed. The question is whether it has done wrong. The answer is "no." People in the public sector were merely trying to survive and who can blame them for that? They did not ask for an increase in the number of personnel in the public sector. They did not ask for a 33% increase in the number of personnel in the HSE, which is half-public and half-private. Nobody stood up and asked for more people. The Government brought them, sat them down and said: "Listen, this is a great economy. The fundamentals are right. Come on in and join the club." However, now the public sector will be hammered because the Government has gone off course.

The problem is as follows. Those in the public sector will undoubtedly be the victims in the first instance. However, what will happen next year? What is the Government now promising? It is promising €4 billion in cuts next year. Who will take the hit there? Are the guys on the Government benches for real? Have they studied the impact that would have on the economy? There is no possible way that can happen without bringing the country to a halt.

What will happen is as follows. First the people in the public sector, who are going to take this lambasting now, will find themselves between a rock and a hard place. They will need to take this hit on top of the 1% or 2% levy and need to pay their mortgages. They cannot change their mortgages, which are fixed. They have many more set payments and have set out a budget for the next 12 months. When this thing suddenly comes looming at them from across the horizon, where do they have to go? Sadly many people will be forced out of their homes. They will hand back the keys and the houses will be left empty. If Ministers opposite think it is bad now, it is going to get worse. They are creating problems and adding to the problem. They are kicking the people when they are down — and they did not cause the problem in the first place.

I have listened to those on the Government side for the past five or six years shouting about the high-wage economy. We all heard them on this side of the House. We have job losses all over the country at present, including some in my constituency. I cannot understand what economics the Government has been reading, where it got its inspiration and how it has led the country so far so wrong. This has happened because those on the Government side kept telling everybody, "It's all right. It'll be all right on the night. Sure, we never let ye down yet. Weren't we good for ye all the time. Didn't we win two elections in a row?" They never said they bought them at a massive cost to the country. There was irresponsible bargaining in the run up to the two elections in 2002 and 2007. Nobody can claim that a year and a half ago it was not clearly obvious to everybody what would happen. It could not continue as it was. Lo and behold, at the end of the day having got elected, the Government first proposed to hammer the public sector and then tried to divert blame on to all of the public representatives as if they were responsible for the dirty tricks it did to the people.

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