Paul Connaughton Snr (Galway East, Fine Gael)

The one aspect of this legislation that everyone remarks upon is its unfairness. They should not be too surprised about that, however. While Fianna Fáil claimed it had all the political craft over the years, it recently made two mistakes and unfair decisions. The first mistake was during the budget when it imposed a 1% levy across the board from those earning €17,000 per annum to those earning €99,000. The Government then spent the next two months apologising to the various groups for this mistake. The Government has now compounded this mistake by stampeding the electorate into believing there was no other way of introducing a levy.

A common theme running through today's Fianna Fáil contributions on Leaders' Questions, the Order of Business and this debate is that the Opposition is guilty of high treason. Somehow or other, the country's problems would not be as bad except for the Opposition. What hypocrisy. Over the past ten years, the construction bubble sucked in everyone in the Government to the point they could not see night from day.

It was the Government that should have regulated the banks. In the past ten years if an Opposition Member raised an issue concerning a bank or banker in the House, the Taoiseach, or his predecessor, would say, " How dare you speak about the banks". The banks were allowed to run riot. Now, it suits the Government to nail the banks. What happened in the banking world is nothing short of atrocious. Who allowed them to get away with it? The Government. There was more regulation in an ordinary credit union down the country than there was in the national banks.

Last week, public representatives had an important meeting in Ballinasloe, County Galway with several hundred members of IMPACT. They comprised nurses and local authority workers who will all be unfairly hit by the levy. One after another stood up to explain how the levy would economically affect them. If the Minister believes this was the only fair way to tackle this problem, despite the other economic problems we have, then he, and the Government, have no brains. There is something lacking at the core of this Government.

Many Members have said, including Government backbenchers when they are down the country, there is a fairer way of introducing this levy. We all appreciate we are in a bad economic situation but the Government must stop turning the gun on people who had nothing to do with creating it, as Deputy Noonan rightly pointed out.

Many public servants will pay dearly for this levy without gaining any extra pension rights. They are in fact subsidising a group in society which played holy hell over the past ten years. That group took the money and ran while the Government will ensure those on low and middle incomes will pay for them. When 120,000 people took to the streets of Dublin last Saturday, the good wishes of another 2 million people were with them. There were many reasons more people could not attend but, by any standards, it was a huge march. Numerous individuals wished they could have been present.

Of all the legislation that has ever been passed by the House, this Bill will be remembered for a long period. We are fully aware that the State must make savings of €2 billion this year and a great deal more next year. However, it is the way in which this is being done that has led to protests. The Bill is ill-timed and not well thought out. On 4 June, the Government will rue the mistake it made in introducing it.

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