Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)

Of course there has been a significant decrease in revenue because of the economic downturn. Our whole economic infrastructure could have been strengthened substantially if money from the Exchequer had been used properly and the income streams from the property and consumption boom had been reinvested in order to make our economy more competitive and less reliant on the construction sector by helping indigenous industry and our exporters. All those areas could and should have been enhanced in those years but this was not done to a substantial degree.

Our current position is the consequence and it is down to bad governance and a lack of vision. The Government had a significant income stream but staggered along unworried about where it was going because it seemed to think the boom would go on forever. There were voices arguing that the boom would not continue indefinitely and that the Government's actions were dangerous, as the over-reliance on construction and consumption would cause a crash, and whether it was to be a soft landing or otherwise was a matter of guesswork.

I suspect those of us who argued it would happen sooner rather than later were at least ahead of many officials in the Department of Finance who were getting all the predictions wrong. I do not know whether to blame the Minister or the Department for that but it is between them. The consequences being felt by those people out there who are subject to these levies are the same as they are struggling from day to day. Unfortunately, I do not hear any wisdom or words of foresight coming from the Government on these matters to try to put the matter right. Perhaps that is as worrying as anything else. As worried as I am, the people subject to these levies on very low incomes are feeling the sharpest end of the matter.

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