Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)

Those in the party are only republicans in very small writing. I thank the Labour Party for sharing time with me. Sinn Féin supports this Fine Gael Party motion.

Who does not know that we need a new budget as our public finances deteriorate daily? Who does not understand that the absence of effective strategies for job creation, taxation and public finances actively make a difficult trading environment for business a dire one? Who does not know that taking action now is vital and that each day lost is another body blow to a bruised economy?

It seems that the only people who do not know are the coalition Cabinet and the docile backbenchers who will, upon command tomorrow, once more vote en masse to oppose this motion knowing that within it there is the undeniable truth that the Taoiseach has been sitting Nero-like for nearly a year now.

Do the 1,000 plus jobs lost each day in January not prove the depth of the crisis we face? Unemployment figures for February will be announced this week and tell an even more dismal tale. It is 155 days since the banking bail-out was announced at the end of last September. Longer since is the calling of an early budget last year and it is longer still since the Government first went public last June about the deteriorating Exchequer finances. I congratulate the Taoiseach today on his 300th day in office but I cannot congratulate him on his record over the last ten months.

Napoleon got within striking distance of Paris within a 100 days of leaving exile on Elba before he met his Waterloo. It seems that our Taoiseach's nadir will have to wait until 5 June. The Taoiseach had some Napoleon-like characteristics as he strutted, huffed and puffed, presenting himself as a person of purpose and of action. The truth is very different and there the comparison ends.

Sinn Féin, like many others, has been seeking a solution to the current economic downturn and attempting to probe the jungle of Government finances and policies to find out just what is feasible and practical. Our first conclusion must be that there is so much that the Government does not know. When asked in parliamentary questions, the Government, and particularly the Minister for Finance, does not know how many former Deputies are drawing down pensions. The Minister for Transport does not know how many miles of motorway have been built under public private partnerships, but we know that each mile was more expensive for the taxpayer. Does the Minister for Transport know this? No, but the Government persists in supporting PPP financing which is wasting taxpayers' money.

The Minister for Finance cannot quantify the financial loss to the Exchequer of tax exiles who are non-residents. Is he aware that in the last year for which the Revenue Commissioners have issued figures, there was a 13% increase in the number of people claiming to be non-residents? Will he release the names of the 5,803 people who live here part of the year, work here, create wealth here for themselves but do not pay tax here?

Did Bono send the Taoiseach a copy of the new album? I am sure it came with a big "Thank you" from the boys in the band. I hear one of the tracks is called "Moment of Surrender" and I would not be surprised if some of the bankers penned that one. Perhaps the Minister has it on his iPod? It is interesting that we can have new copyright laws and court cases to protect the rights of music artists from illegal downloads yet we cannot make people who live here pay tax. We do not imprison tax fraudsters or deviant bankers who squander billions but we can catch the more traditional bank robbers within hours of a heist. If only the Government was as active and effective as the Garda.

Let us not dwell on the negatives of the Government's abysmal record and focus instead on the positive steps to pull the economy out of this malaise created by this coalition Government. Does the Minister for Finance know that an increase in the income levy to 6% on salaries of €200,000 and over would yield €130 million annually to the Exchequer? I trust that he and all the other Ministers who enjoy salaries in this bracket would be more than willing to do their patriotic duty and pay such a levy. Has he considered confining to the standard rate of income tax the deductions and reliefs which were allowable at the 41% rate, given that such a measure could, according to figures from his own Department, amount a sum in the order of €1 billion? Will he also not consider abolishing the PRSI ceiling as such a measure would bring in €223 million in a full year?

I fear the Minister and Cabinet are not considering any of these options. Instead it is the equivalent of the route of one long ball tax strategy of taxing those who can least afford it, with the lowest disposable incomes. Finance and taxation is only one plank of what the Government needs to be doing. Where is the strategy on job creation? Given that the Taoiseach is flying to Washington for St. Patrick's Day, has he been reading the US media to catch up?

One column in a series in Sunday's New York Times on the recession was penned by Google CEO Eric Schmidt. In it he wrote, "When looking at our economic decline, we can all agree on two things: we did not get here overnight and we will not recover tomorrow". Schmidt continues by stating there are steps that "need to be taken to speed up the process" such as "getting credit flowing again, taking action to create jobs, repairing our broken infrastructure and increased transparency to ensure we measure the effectiveness of the dollars we spend".

Would the Taoiseach accept that none of these actions is being implemented in Ireland? Perhaps it is worthwhile for the Taoiseach to travel to a White House reception as he might take on board some of these proposals. Perhaps the Taoiseach read last Thursday's Irish Independent. I know he did not read Friday's edition as we know he does not do "bad" news. I was taken by the strap in one tabloid newspaper referring to the claim by EU Central Bank Chairman, Mr. Trichet, that the Taoiseach was "acting resolutely". The headline declared "Banker backs him, voters don't". We know why that is the case.

In the business section of the Irish Independent last Thursday, an interview with Microsoft Ireland managing director Paul Rellis made interesting reading. He spoke of building an innovation economy in Ireland and said: "One of the most emotional challenges facing this county is the fear factor. The country needs to focus on being ahead of the curve". He proposes that "Fibre-optic networks need to be deployed nationally to benefit schools and business but fundamentally, Ireland's core advantage in the years ahead will be its people". Rellis proposes developing core clusters in the area of renewable energy and digital media and finishes by saying that there "are a lot of open ears in the public and private sector for building future industries". Those industries will need stimulation and Government initiatives, none of which has been evident yet.

We must ask the Government if its eyes are open as up until now they have been closed to the reality of the challenges we face and the opportunities available to us. In a British newspaper interview today, British Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling admits that Ministers there "must have the humility to admit that mistakes were made in the lead-up to the financial crisis". When will some of that humility be evident from the Ministers here?

It is worth recalling that in the run-up to the last election in 2007, my party was castigated for advocating what were at the time extremely modest tax increases. Some very arrogantly described my party members as economic illiterates. It is very evident now that all other parties in this House advocated tax decreases and had they any modicum of our understanding of the economic position, they would have known better and this State would be in a much better position economically than it currently is.

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