John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)

The Green Party came into Government in entirely different circumstances in June 2007. The scale and speed of the economic crisis that has hit the Irish people since then is now well documented. To be honest, all of us in Government have struggled to come to terms with what is happening and put in place effective measures to deal with our major problems. However, we will persist. Above all, we will tell it as it is and give a truthful picture.

It would be all too easy to emulate the actions of some in Opposition and tell people that we can resolve our difficulties without any pain or sacrifice. It would be easy to claim there were painless solutions. I have a clear memory of what happened to the Irish people in the late 1970s and 1980s. I was among the legion of people signing on at the dole office and ultimately I had to go abroad to get a job. This is etched in the memory of anyone over the age of 40. Too many of us here today have failed to grasp those lessons of the 1980s, much less apply them to our current difficulties.

In summary, what happened through that period was that Ireland's political leaders failed to take control of our shattered finances in time. They failed to take necessary and painful corrective action early enough and we reaped the fruits of this with a slow and chronic recession which lasted into the mid-1990s. A generation of young people were left without work and without hope. They had no option but to leave Ireland. Now we find that some in this House would have us repeat that cycle. We cannot, must not and will not do that. Unlike others involved in previous coalition Governments, we in the Green Party are ready to apply those lessons from the 1980s. We are prepared to take hard political decisions to cut costs over the coming two years. Right now, we must put the future prosperity and independence of the people first. We must apply the lessons of the 1980s which the people paid so dearly to learn.

There is a simple sum at the heart of this debate. It costs €58 billion per year to run the country, but tax revenues are just €32 billion. We are running a deficit four times the amount permitted under the membership rules of the European single currency. We are borrowing between €400 million and €500 million per week just to stand still. Increasingly, our ability to borrow that money is being called into question. We must find economies. We must cut spending and we must all take our share. If we act swiftly and decisively, we can set things to rights in a relatively short period. I believe that as long as we tell the people the truth, they will see the wisdom of what we are trying to achieve. I have confidence in the intelligence, toughness and resilience of the people.

The forthcoming budget will be tough. However, we are working with our partners in Government to make the cutbacks as fair as possible. We are working to minimise the pain for the most vulnerable people and we are working on reforms to ensure that we do not return to the depressing economic cycle of boom and bust. Our first obligation is to restore stability to the economy. Just to stand still, we must find €4 billion worth of savings next year. The harsh reality is that €1.3 billion of this must be saved from the public sector pay bill. Public service pay and pensions account for more than one third of our spending. I understand the anxiety this causes to public sector workers and their families, and I understand their instinct to protect their livelihoods. However, I appeal to that very instinct when I urge them now to step back from the brink of conflict and industrial action. Most public servants are committed to serving the public. There are efficiencies to be found, but we face a choice between cutting essential services and cutting pay. I favour cutting pay, and most public servants I know agree.

I am a long-time supporter of social partnership. It had its flaws and some important mistakes were made in its application but, overall, social partnership served us well and was the mainstay of efforts to haul the economy out of recession. Social partnership took us out of the bad times in the past; now is not the time to abandon it. We must re-visit it, strengthen it and use it to point the way forward. Cliches and fantasy economics will not fix the economy. Only tough action and implementing the right decisions will do that. Let us see the colour of the Opposition's money. Let us hear exactly what they have to offer. So far, I have been deeply underwhelmed.

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