Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)

I thank the Minister for his reply. People are terrified their jobs will be the next to go. Businesses are fearful they will have to pull down the shutters because they can neither get credit nor paid. The confidence the Minister expressed that the Government has a strategy that is understood and clear is far from shared by either international markets or people at home. People feel leaderless and lack direction and this is a core problem. If we want to protect jobs, people must have confidence the Government knows what it is doing.

If the Exchequer position deteriorates relative to the Minister's forecasts, will the Government allow the deterioration to be taken up in extra borrowing or does he intend to introduce other measures? We need clarity on that issue.

While the Minister may dispute the description of the strategy he sent to Europe as "unclear" and "underdeveloped", I would describe it as nothing less. Would he not agree that if we want people to invest for the future, whether in energy or elsewhere, we need clarity about the direction of Government thinking on taxation and other matters covering the five-year period? Without that clarity people will continue to postpone investment and wait to see what happens.

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