Paul Connaughton Snr (Galway East, Fine Gael)

Deputy Roche has a superior one. He always believed that. He knows what I mean.

A vital chance was missed last week here in the Dáil. It was missed because there was an unfairness in that budget. One fact I have always known about Fianna Fáil - I must admire that party for many of its actions - is that fairness is not its middle name. It displays fairness for its own crowd, but not for the people of Ireland.

The major plank Fianna Fáil had was that the bill for the public service had to be reduced, and we all accepted that. I refer to those who earn a lowly €30,000 per year. That is the amount paid to many public servants, including those who work on the roads of Galway County Council and who clean the schools. Such people all earn less than €30,000. It is outrageous to suggest they should carry a 5% cut, which is effectively a cut of €1,500 for next year. I do not care how long Fianna Fáil will remain in Government. I realise the Government has done a deal with the backbenchers, the Independents and the Green Party. They were bought over for the next 12 or 18 months, whatever the deal. However, a person that works every day of the week for approximately €30,000 or less per year will never forget the 5% cut, even if they live to be 100 years of age. They will remember last week in the Dáil and they will wait to get this Government. I have no idea for whom such people will vote but it will not be Fianna Fáil. Of that I have no doubt.

As I remarked earlier in the Fine Gael Private Members' motion, it is very difficult to understand how from budget cuts amounting to €4 billion, the Government managed to cut €108 million from the carers and disability allowances and the blind pension, which affects the very people unable to see it. Some €108 million was taken out of €4 billion. Is the Minister suggesting the money could not be found anywhere else?

I refer to a matter my colleague Deputy Varadkar raised on several occasions. There was no word about quangos in the budget. During the year, the Government make a great effort to highlight what it would not do with quangos, all of which were to be reduced and rationalised. It appears the Government became afraid of them in the run up to the budget for whatever reason. Perhaps it was because those the Government appointed on behalf of Fianna Fáil have become so embedded in whatever quango with which they happen to be associated. Nevertheless, many people in such State establishments or quangos have worked to the best of their ability. However, there is an issue with the overall culture and there is no doubt the number could be reduced greatly. In this area alone there would be no problem with attaining the €108 million savings and this has been clearly identified by Fine Gael. If there were a rationalisation of the quangos alone without any other measures, it would yield in excess of €108 million by the time the exercise was finished. Such a measure would have made a great difference to the disabled, the blind, the carers and all those in society that everyone declares they wish to help.

There is downward pressure on costs in the economy. We have been told continually that wages account for 70% or 80% of the actual cost of most services. This has been the mantra from the Government down through the years. Since there has been a reduction in pay, will we see cheaper ESB, telephones and garbage collection costs? When the doctor or the vet comes will he or she be cheaper? Is that what all this is coming down to, or will it be the case that those who, unfortunately, must live, work, rear a family and pay a mortgage on something less than €30,000 will be nailed during the coming years while everything else continues as it was before? Will the Minister of State address this point when referring to fairness in his summing up? If people realised the services for which they must pay are decreasing at the same level as pay, they might realise they are approaching a stage at which we would become more competitive. The goods and services we produce here could then be sold abroad, the end result to which we all aspire. However, I do not believe the route taken by the Government last week will ever achieve that aim.

In so far as the farming community is concerned the meek effort to introduce an off-colour cousin or substitute for the REPS, rural environmental protection scheme, is not welcome. Many farmers are very upset by the measure because they realise exactly what is taking place. They are aware that in the heel of the reel this will be simply a faint image of what the REPS once was. I trust the people who will qualify for the so called €5,000 maximum payment will not have to jump through costly hoops associated with REPS to become eligible for the modified REPS. I hope farmers will not be subjected to the same rules and regulations.

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