Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)

I acknowledge the Ceann Comhairle's announcement last night regarding Oireachtas reform. I hope that in line with the commission's decisions, the Government will implement proposals on necessary savings. Some 11 of the Ministers of State have already volunteered to resign their positions. The Taoiseach should take them up on their offers, as it would save at least €5.5 million per year in additional costs. We must ensure that the Ministers reduce the large armies of staff in their constituency offices who are allegedly meant to serve constituents. Ministers would better serve their constituents by ensuring that funds were ploughed back into the Exchequer.

It is time to get rid of the electronic voting machines once and for all. The decision to spend €54 million to purchase them was crazy. Contracts lasting for as long as 25 years have been signed to house obsolete machines that will never be used.

It is clear that significant savings can be made across the public service. My colleague, Deputy Coveney, referred to the €300 million in carbon taxes taken from the public in electricity charges. Given the fact that those carbon credits were handed to the ESB for nothing and constitute additional profit for the company, there is considerable anger over the wage increases received by staff at the ESB. Surely, either the money should be clawed back by the Exchequer or electricity bills should be reduced by at least 10% for those individuals who are struggling to cope with mortgage repayments and the Government's additional taxes and levies.

My colleague and party leader, Deputy Kenny, highlighted the urgent necessity to focus on the real economy. Every five minutes, we lose four jobs. A significant number of people have lost their jobs in recent months. Since Deputy Cowen became the Taoiseach last April, my constituency and surrounding towns have lost the equivalent of 2.5 Dell companies. The retail sector is haemorrhaging jobs because of the Government's failure to reverse the increase in the VAT rate. People go north of the Border to do their daily and weekly shopping.

We have proposed the introduction of a PRSI exemption for employers who take on new employees during 2009 for 12-month periods. Every unemployed person costs the Exchequer €20,000 per annum in social welfare payments and lost taxes. The State is losing out.

It would make more sense to support the creation of jobs than to allow this to continue. Furthermore, 50,000 jobs could be created, were the renewable energy sector to be supported. While the Ministers for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources and the Environment, Heritage and Local Government talk the talk in this regard, the only development has been the announcement on insulation grants, which has decimated that industry and has ended up with hundreds of employees being laid off.

In the time remaining to me, I will focus on the issue of taking money from farmers' pockets. It is a disgrace that the Government entered contracts with farmers to inspect the work done under the farm waste management grant within nine weeks of completion and then to pay farmers within a further four weeks under the terms of the scheme but that this now has been ignored. We have reached this point because first, the Government designated the entire country as a nitrate-vulnerable zone, against which I argued at the time of designation. Thereafter, the Government introduced restrictive regulations including the new policy of farming by calendar. It then forced farmers into making significant investments and consequently, under the terms of the grant scheme, forced them into securing bridging loans. To draw down the grant, farmers are obliged to return receipts showing they have paid all the associated bills. Farmers genuinely believed they would be paid within 14 weeks. At present however, many farmers are repaying bridging loans to their banks, which is exerting great pressure on them. I know of one farmer who owes €74,000 to his bank. He has four small children, his only income derives from his dry stock farming activities and he does not know how to service the bank loan, let alone address the debt that hangs over him since the Government's statement that it will not pay until some time in 2011. Had the Government listened to Fine Gael's proposal on an extension into 2009 because of the poor weather experienced over the last two summers, €600 million would not now be owed to farmers, as the cost would have been stretched over a longer period.

It must be noted that the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food encouraged farmers throughout the latter half of the year to submit their applications and to get the work done. Having ensured that they incurred as much debt as possible, he then told them there was no money to meet it. His excuse was that he did not know that so many farmers would apply at the end of the year. All the Minister had to do was listen to my colleague, Deputy Creed, who, on 25 August 2008, highlighted the inadequacy of the funds available and that it would cost approximately €600 million to pay the 28,000 farmers whose grants were due. It was clear as long ago as last August that a problem existed in respect of funding. As the Minister is not accustomed to listening to Opposition Members, he need only pick up the farming section of the edition of the Irish Independent of Tuesday, 26 August 2008 and he would read the same point.

This has led to a crisis among farmers with their bank managers in respect of cash flow. The really frustrating point is that last week, €7 billion was given to the banks. Would it not have been better to give €6.5 billion to the banks and to put the outstanding €500 million towards the farm waste management scheme? This money would have returned to and recapitalised the banks anyway, because all of it is owed to them. Moreover, it would have had a major impact on the local economy. It is clear that the current Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food has wound down the Department in a slow process over the past 12 years. Since the introduction of the single farm payment, 517 farmers in my native county have left agriculture, although it was meant to secure their long-term future. The present Minister, who is unable to do the basic mathematicss, encouraged farmers to get into significant debt before Christmas but afterwards came out with one arm longer than the other and stated that he has no money.

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