John O'Mahony (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I have been listening all morning to this debate and find the comments of those on the Government side, particularly backbenchers, incredible. They say the Opposition is not acting responsibly, that the unions are providing false figures and Deputy Blaney has just said that public service members have inflated the figures with regard to how much they will lose as a result of the pension levy. If we were to believe what they are saying, only the Government is acting responsibly. My question is, why did it not act responsibly over the past 11 years, instead of wasting and squandering the money created by the people?

We are being told the Taoiseach, Minister and Government are now doing what is necessary for the country. Why did they not do what was necessary when the wealth was being created? We in the Opposition are told we have forgotten about the great work that was done, such as road projects. However, neither we nor the people have forgotten the teachers and parents of children in schools around the country, whose schools are falling down and have not been replaced over the past 11 years of squander mania. We have not forgotten about the parents who have had to go to court to vindicate their rights for their children with special needs while the Government spent hundreds of millions defending the indefensible.

Deputies on the Government side came into the House today to defend the indefensible in this Bill. I have only been a Member of the House for a short time, but I have worked with many successful people in the past. One thing successful people do is accept responsibility for their actions. Over the past three or four hours, we have listened to Ministers, Government Deputies and Green Party Deputies, but they have not accepted responsibility for bringing the country to its knees.

I am glad to contribute to this debate on the efforts by the Government to deal with the consequences of how it has mishandled, mismanaged and squandered the wealth of the country over the past 11 years. It now proposes to screw the people who helped create the wealth and ask them to pay a totally unfair amount in order to bail out those who created the problem. Ministers, bankers, speculators and developers made decisions that squandered, wasted and spent as if there would be no tomorrow and the good times would roll on forever.

Less than nine months ago, the Taoiseach and Ministers told us everything was fine and that although there was a slight downturn, there was no problem because we had a sound economy and would be able to withstand the downturn without too much pain. We remember that our former Taoiseach, Deputy Bertie Ahern, told people warning about a downturn not to talk down the economy but to commit suicide instead. How ironic and irresponsible that was from the position we are in today.

The hard-working lowly paid workers of the country knew differently when the Government was proclaiming everything was fine. They knew differently because they were unable to get jobs or were losing the ones they had. They knew differently because sales figures in their businesses were down. They knew differently because competition and costs were spiralling. They saw the train coming down the tracks, but the Government did not see it until it crashed through the front door.

The issue today is how to deal with the mess the Government has created. All those in their right mind realise that difficult decisions must be taken. However, they must be taken in a fair and equitable manner that will ensure those who can afford it will be asked to pay the most. The pension levy is anything but fair and equitable. How fair is it to ask someone on €25,000 a year to pay €1,000 of a pension levy while someone on the same amount on social welfare pays no income or pension levy?

The Taoiseach has talked about tweaking the levy, but it needs more than tweaking for lowly paid workers. Otherwise, he is telling thousands of workers earning under €40,000 per annum they should give up their jobs. If the measures are not changed, they will end up costing the State much more in social welfare benefits. I have the facts before me with regard to a husband, wife and three children who, between all their social welfare allowances, get €41,000 — and they are entitled to that. However, people earning €41,000 will now have to pay the pension levy and pay for children going to college, medical charges, etc., as they are not entitled to medical cards and do not have the supports provided to welfare recipients. Therefore, this levy asks lower paid workers to give up their jobs. If this Bill is passed, the lower would be better off on social welfare. Otherwise they need to earn €150,000 per year.

With regard to section 12 dealing with the farm waste management scheme and the recent decision to defer payment to farmers approved under the scheme, each time the scheme has been raised in the House over the past year, the Minister has told us about how much money the scheme has meant for farmers. It is only a good scheme if farmers are paid the grants to which they are entitled. Some 17,400 farmers await payments. They applied and were granted approval for the same scheme as those who were paid in full in 2008.

It is a distinct possibility that farmers awaiting payment have a legal entitlement to full payment. How can there be two methods of payment when the contract entered into by both sides was the same? Yesterday, I was speaking to a farmer who is owed €92,000. He has been given legal advice that he has an irrefutable case. It was stated in the contract for the scheme that farmers who were approved would be paid within 14 weeks. Surely, there has been a breach of contract. The least that should be offered to farmers now is that the extra costs incurred by way of interest should be met by the Department.

It is pathetic to see the Minister hold up his hands in despair because of the glut of applications last December, when it was his mishandling of the scheme and the imposition of his deadline that caused the avalanche of claims then. If he had extended the scheme, he would have saved money and would not now be looking for the €400 million immediately. Not alone that, thousands of builders would still have work and the dole queues would be shorter.

The farm waste management scheme was introduced in early 2007 to buy the farming vote in the general election. No costings were required and there was no care as to how many would apply for it. We had miscalculation after miscalculation and now this side of the House is being told to act responsibly. Remember these farmers took on these works not to make a profit or to put the money into their pockets. They were investing their own money as well as benefiting the environment. The money they borrowed from the bank was based on the premise that the grant would be lodged when it was received in full. The goalposts have been changed by the Government but the banks do not want to know and they are looking for the money from the farmers.

It is easy to understand why the people affected are very angry, cynical, desperate and disillusioned as a result of seeing the banks bailed out for billions. Surely the extra €400 million could be found to pay these grants which would then find its way into the banks anyway. This would be another way of recapitalising them and would help the farmers along the way. I call on the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to announce immediately that the interest these farmers must pay will be met by the State.

Everybody accepts that financial problems must be confronted. Fine Gael has laid out its proposals clearly. It is not too late for the Minister to take on many of these proposals and I ask him to do so.

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