Seymour Crawford (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)

I understand that I will take six minutes and Deputy Deasy will take seven minutes. I am not sure what the arrangement is thereafter.

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this extraordinary budget. We all agreed that it was essential as a result of the mismanagement of the State's finances by Fianna Fáil-led Governments over the past six years. I remind the Ministers who have suggested that there has been a lack of constructive opposition from Deputies on this side of the House that I have been a Member of the Dáil long enough to remember the sort of opposition with which my then colleague, Ivan Yates, and others were confronted when Fine Gael was last in government. I will take no lectures from anybody on the other side of the House on that issue.

Unfortunately, the budget that was announced yesterday is not fair and will not bring about the renewal that is needed. It will not give any hope to those who have lost their jobs or those who believe their jobs are in danger. While the stabilisation of the public finances is vital, if we do not get people back to work, there is no way this country will recover from the doom and gloom that the Government has created. The budget will affect middle income families. A person who earns €50,000 and has to look after a spouse and two children will lose up to €3,500, or €70 a week, from his or her income. At the same time, developers and bankers will be facilitated by the provision of a new national asset management agency. It is clear from the Minister for Finance's comments in the House yesterday and the Taoiseach's comments in the House this morning that, six months after the banks were given a guarantee, they do not know whether the bad debt amounts to €40 billion, as originally suggested in the Dáil, or between €80 billion and €90 billion, as suggested by the Minister, Deputy Brian Lenihan, in yesterday's Supplementary Budget Statement. The Minister said yesterday:

The potential maximum book value of loans that will be transferred to the agency is estimated to be in the region of €80 billion to €90 billion ..... if the agency were to fall short of recouping all of the costs, the Government intends that (another) levy should be applied to recoup any shortfall.

Fine Gael's finance spokesman, Deputy Richard Bruton, was the first person to advise the Minister that bad debts needed to be removed from the normal banking system. However, many questions are raised by the Government's decision to expose the taxpayer in this way. If we are to avoid further collapse and further unemployment, it is vital that the banks once more start to lend to small businesses and other retail structures.

It is unforgivable that projects that could have provided much-needed unemployment have been removed from the capital programme. The decision not to proceed with the proposed investment of €150 million in regional and local roads is equally unforgivable. The roads in the Cavan-Monaghan constituency, which I represent, need to be improved to facilitate the access of the pig and poultry industries to the marketplace. The raw materials that are required to feed pigs and poultry need to be transported on the same roads. The removal of €200 million from the social housing and water services infrastructure budgets is just as difficult to understand. The provision of social housing, which is essential, could be done at a much lower cost at a time when builders are eager to tender. The development of small sewerage plants in our towns and villages is essential for our environment. It is impossible to understand why a Minister from the Green Party has agreed to curtail such projects.

I do not understand how the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, has been able to announce that a school project costing €7 million is to proceed in Kingscourt, County Cavan. The project in question was not even being discussed during the years of plenty. The same Minister has agreed to withdraw €54 million from his budget, mainly under the primary and post-primary building programme. For the sake of the people of Kingscourt, I hope the school will become a reality and is not just another election pipe dream. That has happened on many previous occasions over the past 24 years. Building projects are needed in St. Aidan's comprehensive school in Cootehill, St. Mary's primary school in Virginia, another school in Laragh, two schools in Rockcorry and the model school in Monaghan. The campus of Castleblayney College continues to be divided by a national primary route. Surely it would be better to have people working on such building projects, rather than paying for the rental of prefabs and making social welfare payments to those who are unemployed.

Once again, agriculture has taken a hit on budget day. I refer to the reductions in REPS payments and in the forestry premium, which will be in addition to the ongoing delays in making REPS payments. Those who can get their farms inspected and passed under the farm waste management scheme then have to cope with the staged payments system. The House does not need to be reminded of the collapse of the dairy and beef industries. Never before have so many young farmers been so interested in staying at home and availing of the installation aid and farm retirement schemes. Fine Gael did not sit idly by in the weeks coming up to yesterday's budget. We produced proposals that would lead to the creation of 100,000 jobs over four years. We pointed out that electricity and gas prices need to be reduced.

For those of us who represent Border constituencies, the most depressing outcome of the budget was that no effort was made to use it to safeguard the retail or general trade south of the Border. The Minister for Finance admitted that his mistake in last October's budget caused €770 million to be lost to the State, but he completely ignored the situation on this occasion. Like other groups, the retail and motor trades are losing income and jobs. The Tánaiste and her agencies have made no effort to provide much-needed employment.

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