Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

If this Government remains in power any longer the economy can only worsen. In a time of adversity, a Government must lead its people and this Government cannot lead its people because the people have lost confidence in them. The people have been led up the hill and dropped over the cliff and simply will not follow them again.

I heard the Minister for Finance, Deputy Lenihan, and other Ministers state that the public will not accept the harsh measures because they have not fully realised the difficult situation our economy is in. That is absolute rubbish. The public know exactly the position the country is in. They know this from their reduced weekly wage packages, the loss of pensions and savings, negative equity, lost jobs and the loss of expectations for themselves and their children. They will not accept solutions from this Government whom they believe caused the problems. The Government can come up with all the schemes it likes, they will not be accepted by the people.

The Government would have us believe that our problems are the problems being experienced the world over but, they are not. Our budget deficit and unemployment rate is twice that of Britain. Contrary to what the Tánaiste said earlier, on almost every scale that we are measured we are at the bottom when we need to be at the top and are at the top when we need to be at the bottom.

The Government would also have us believe the rest of the world is following our example in dealing with the financial crisis. That is more rubbish; it is not. This would be laughable were it not so serious. Even the rating agencies as recently as yesterday passed their verdict on Government management of the banking and public finances as they further downgrade our credit rating, making our borrowing ever more risky and expensive. Financial markets look at us if not as one of the basket case countries then certainly one of the bad boys of Europe, accumulating a huge burden of debt to be passed on to our children. Much of this debt burden is to be used to protect the loans of the bond holders and international investors who funded the property gamble. The Government would have us believe that these risk takers cannot be allowed to lose and that they must get their money no matter what; that we have a national responsibility to repay them, even though they better than most, knew exactly the level of risk they were taking on. Again, that is rubbish.

The Government would have us believe every other country is protecting such lending. This is not so. Far from it. These are not Government bonds. This is not sovereign lending. Investors knew exactly what they were doing. They were taking a gamble, pure and simple. It was a risk that they knew would be profitable for a while but could only last for a particular time. The average tax payer played no part in this; they were victims. Now, the Government is asking them to pay for the risks taken by others, people whose job it was to evaluate those risks.

The Government would also have us believe NAMA is the only solution to the banking crisis. It is not. While it is one possible solution, it is a high risk and high cost solution for which, if it works, the taxpayer will pay for years. If it does not work, the entire structure of the economy will collapse leaving us facing a multi-generational recession. While the Government continues with this type of rhetoric, the economy is haemorrhaging jobs and self confidence. Please do not tell us the rest of Europe is in awe of the Irish Government's economic management and financial innovation. That is simply not true. The remainder of the world, and in particular the European Commission, are making the best of a bad lot and handing Ireland a lifeline. However, Ireland and its people are not willing to hand this Government a lifeline. It has pulled the rug from under the aspirations and expectations of every family and they do not want another day of its leadership. If the Government looks it will see it has lost the people.

It is clear that in respect of arts, sport and tourism the Minister responsible simply does not understand that the landscape has changed utterly. The days when all that was required of him was to open hotels and hand out grants are gone and gone forever. While jobs in this sector disappear daily the Minister sees no role for himself in this area. He has no sense of responsibility to champion the sector or to ensure his colleagues in Government understand the barriers to tourism their policies are causing. What Minister seeking to attract visitors who spend €50 million per annum here would allow a tax to be imposed on them when they arrive here? What type of insanity is that? Why did this Minister allow this to happen and why when everybody in the tourism sector is saying this is madness, does he not raise his voice against it? What Minister would stand by and see air access to this country contract and contract without even expressing concern? Why does he allow visas to visit this country to be dearer here than anywhere else and allow the OPW to close our heritage sites in high season? Why does he support decisions which disadvantage our tour operators and make their costs higher than in any other European country? This Minister is not strong enough to play, or even see, a co-ordinating role in all those other areas which do not alone impinge on tourism but are fundamental to tourism policy. He has stood by and said nothing about the fact that we have no direct contact from many parts of the world from where traditionally our long haul visitors came.

Aer Lingus is now acting as a cheap airline with no code sharing. It has moved its Heathrow slot to Gatwick to service other countries. Flights that previously departed from Ireland and brought people to Ireland are now departing from and arriving at Gatwick. The same happened in Belfast. Not a word was said when Aer Lingus silently moved its slots to Gatwick. Tourism is our biggest employer, or at least was until six months ago, employing almost 300,000 people. It is a vital industry for the country and too important to languish in a Department wherein the Minister either cannot or will not ensure it is at the centre of national economic policy.

It is time to close that Department, to create a new Department of culture and sport and to move tourism to a Department where economic and commercial considerations are to the fore. However, where there is no leadership, no accountability and no dynamism, that cannot happen. It will not happen under this Government. They are so out of touch I do not expect the Fianna Fáil members of Government to even see the relevance of what we are saying today. The Green Party, whose members are not in the House to hear us and who are only two years in Government, want, understandably, to focus on the green agenda and have persuaded themselves the prize is worth the price and that nothing else matters. However, they have been fooled. They have mistaken pathetically meagre concessions from Fianna Fáil for a total policy conversion. Nothing could be further from the truth. They are asking the people to pay too high a price for too small a green gain, a gain that can and would be delivered by any Government with sense. I say to them: "Withdraw, while you still have some credibility and while there is still something to be salvaged for the people and allow a Government with a vision, ideas and energy to get us out of the mess that has been created."

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