Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I have listened carefully to the Taoiseach's remarks and I have read the speech of the Minister for Finance. The Taoiseach is somewhat realistic in his observations this evening. The problem's affecting this country are beyond any one person and cannot and will not be addressed without coherence, cohesion and a deal of courage. It will need a very clear and decisive agenda. The Taoiseach said he does not wish long contributions about the context in which we are having this debate and that is an important statement. For this to happen we could all go on political rants about how we got to this position. We remember very clearly the statements from the Fianna Fáil Party that 98% of taxpayers would be better off under Fianna Fáil and that they were the only party that could look after the economy.

The speech written by the Minister for Finance does not contain anything new. The sad fact is the people who put this together, the senior civil servants, will be out on strike next week, if that is what they voted for. There is nothing new in his speech, nothing we have not heard in the past couple of months.

This debate is only a veneer. It was stated that the Taoiseach, Deputy Brian Cowen, was going to challenge everybody to present budgetary details this evening and yet there is nothing new in what we have heard from Government. I would make the analogy that when the good ship Economy Ireland last pulled out of a port after a change of crew from Fine Gael and the Labour Party, it was well equipped, well stocked and was well balanced, on an even keel. Unfortunately its destinations with the next two crews provided me with an observation that people on that ship would be better off as pirates of the Caribbean. The treasure of Ireland has been looted by those who were permitted to do so. The Minister for Finance is correct when he says there is light at the end of the tunnel and that the world has turned a corner, yet people are in prison in other countries and we are still just beginning to talk about things here in Ireland.

I do not wish to make a political rant. The Fine Gael Party accepts the principles of the figure of €4 billion as being a necessary adjustment. Between the Lisbon treaty referendum and now, I have been to practically every county in the country. I say to the Minister for Finance there are so many fine people who are thinking ahead, who want to develop new products, who want to be able to market their products, who are paying wages and salaries every week, who feel crucified by the way the State does not appear to have an agenda and a clear view of the horizon as to where we will be in three years' time. These people want to contribute and their workers also want to contribute.

I recently visited an unemployment exchange. The Minister should consider the potential in any of those queues, which include graphic designers, engineers, young architects, teachers, young farmers and others. The Minister will know of the potential in this country that is doing nothing. We want to harness that potential.

In many ways this time of crisis presents a great opportunity to sort out things that have gone wrong for so many years. The Minister refers to the courage to sort things out. What was the Government doing in the last number of years when it was getting very clear advice in this House on a whole range of areas? The advice on the economy and policy in many cases came from my party and from the man beside me, Deputy Richard Bruton. It is now six years since I said if the Government was paying benchmarking at €1 billion a year, it should be sure to get efficiencies in return. This advice was laughed at, yet it is now costing €2 billion and it has not worked. I refer to the public servant who walked into my office in the past fortnight and said he wanted to get out because there were five of them in his office with nothing to do. That is not the way we want to be.

If we are going to make these adjustments I advise the Minister to seriously consider what Fine Gael announced this evening, a cut in PRSI which will affect 100,000 businesses and which will create a palpable ease for employers. We have demonstrated how this can be funded. If the Minister is looking for constructive suggestions, we will give him plenty of them and we will publish our budget strategy before the budget date of 9 December, just as we did last year. We will set out our views on how the strategy can be achieved. We will retain the strong capital programme and make a bigger adjustment at the other end. We will demonstrate what we believe is the way to get the country moving and kick-start job creation again.

At meetings in Dublin, Waterford, Cork, Limerick, Galway and next Thursday in Athlone, people who write cheques, who pay wages, who are thinking about their employees, who want to keep their businesses open, are saying to the Fine Gael Party to give them a break. They are saying they need some assistance. They say if we want workers to be kept employed, if we want families to be able to pay their mortgages and their taxes and to contribute to the economy, then they insist we give them the opportunity. They are willing to respond to decisive Government but that is not what has been there.

In response to such an announcement this evening, 100,000 businesses will react very positively. It will affect 1.7 million workers across the country to their benefit and ease a restriction and obstacle to business. This is the kind of thinking that Government should implement in order to get people back to work, shorten the dole queues and move us forward. If we decide to focus solely on expenditure cuts of €4 billion, which everybody accepts in principle, that will not create a single job. We will be stuck next year with another €4 billion and another €3 billion or €4 billion the year after and never get out of the current mess. We have been led onto the rocks.

It is about having a broader agenda. I agree we must deal with the fiscal challenge and the adjustments that have to be made in social welfare and in public pay and current spending. We will give our views on those policies. However, the Minister must go beyond that agenda and look at the broader methods for restoring abroad our financial credibility, integrity and reputation. We must increase our competitiveness, cut Government costs and go back to where we were, proud and strong internationally so that people will regard Ireland as a place of quality and high productivity. These qualities are still there in many Irish firms but our competitiveness rating has slipped significantly.

Last June, before the Dáil summer recess, I explained Fine Gael's programme for a national economic recovery authority to be set up under the Department of the Taoiseach, which would leverage €11 billion between the pension reserve fund, the European Investment Bank and an appropriate bond. We believe we could create 100,000 jobs in the big areas where State assets are not being utilised properly, in broadband, clear water, smart grid, in renewable energy and for the greener homes bank. There are many opportunities for creating up to 100,000 jobs. The Taoiseach said at the time he would make a considered response to our proposals but I never heard anything more about it. If the Government takes this action now we will assist. The people on the dole queues want to work. I do not want to see them going to Australia or England or wherever else.

I have a letter from Galway which asks if I realise that about 100 newly trained nurses from Sligo, Galway and Ballinasloe are planning to leave the country as there are no jobs for them. England is paying them relocation allowances. Neither the Taoiseach nor I want that.

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