Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)

This draconian budget should not be happening today. It is happening, however, because Fianna Fáil failed to heed the warnings and drove this economy on to the rocks. Even now, the thinking behind this budget is short-sighted. It is sucking us into a cycle of more job losses and higher debt. People will hurt badly after this budget, people who had no hand, act or part in creating the problem that we now face.

This is a jobless and a joyless budget. It offers no vision that would rebuild confidence, it serves only to get the Taoiseach and his Ministers to the end of this week.

The only way to break out of the cycle that has been created is with a convincing jobs strategy and that strategy is simply missing. This requires real leadership from Government. We saw that sort of real leadership 50 years ago from Lemass and Whitaker, who offered a clear vision of how Ireland could be different, who had the determination and the courage to take action to overcome vested interests, to confront problems with bold vision. Such vision is sadly absent from their successors. That is the tragedy we face today.

Many will feel the force of this budget pushing them down. None, however, will nurture the belief that it will put the country back on its feet. We expected to hear Ministers lead by example. The supposed cut of 15% in Ministers' pay and 20% in the Taoiseach's pay is a sham. It ignores the 10% we were told they were taking in April. The truth is that the real cut Ministers are taking is 5%. By comparison, someone earning €45,000 in the public service is expected to take a bigger cut than Ministers. Those on social welfare with two children are expected to take a bigger proportionate cut than Ministers. This is a deception.

We are still waiting to hear from the Minister what Anglo Irish Bank will suck out of next year's budget, an issue on which he has remained deafeningly silent.

People are approaching this budget with anger and fear. They are angry about the warnings that were not heeded and the prevarication that failed to address problems. They are angry at the negligence that underpinned this and that no one has been held to account for the catastrophic failures that have brought us to this pass. They are fearful for their futures and the futures of their children.

They expected to see in the budget the start of a real transformation, an attempt to transform politics, to transform our economy and public service, all with the purpose of creating jobs. That is what people expected and they have been dismally disappointed by what we have seen today.

Instead of the Minister taking the radical steps to recondition an engine that this Government has brought to a standstill, ordinary people are being told to get out and push. That is not fair and is not sufficiently visionary to address the scale of the problems we now face.

The actions taken in today's budget will do more to prolong this recession than to shorten it. Once again, we see the Minister go back to the old reliable of slashing investment not only this year and last year, but next year and the following year. We have never seen an economy come out of depression by slashing investment, the sort of investment that should be creating infrastructure fit for a modern age. The Minister is standing back and allowing that infrastructure to be neglected.

The Minister is failing to confront the cost problems that are dragging business down. Where is the radical idea to cut PRSI on employers, to give those employers who are hanging on by their fingernails a chance to survive and to see out this Christmas in the hope of something better in the new year? The Minister has failed those employers.

The Minister is also pretending the credit problem is solved and setting up a review. The people did not want to hear that; they wanted to see concrete action that would transform the credit situation. The banks came in here last week and told us the transfer of money to NAMA would not make a cent of difference to availability of credit. That is a catastrophe that will destroy strong businesses, businesses that will be sucked down by the failure of credit.

The Minister is ducking the challenges we face by offering an accountant's budget. This budget is a recipe for staying in this hole for the next year, looking to the same people for the same sacrifices - the carer, the family struggling on low income and the public servant on low income. That is what the Minister for Finance has dressed up today as a positive contribution. The truth is that creating and sustaining employment should have been the be-all and end-all of this budget. That is the sole challenge we have to face. It would have been a far more fitting tribute to President Kennedy to have tried to stem emigration from this country-----

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