Seán Ardagh (Dublin South Central, Fianna Fail)

I would hope that date would be set in stone rather than letting it go on any further. We owe it to our future generations that we, who gained the benefit of it during the Celtic tiger years, should deal with it in our time and not leave it for the generations of the future.

Having said that, the budget makes adjustments of €4 billion. Union representatives have appeared on television programmes claiming it would reduce demand and would push down growth generally. That is true to some extent, but because of the work the Minister did and the confidence it gave to the people on a domestic basis, yesterday's KBC Ireland-ESRI consumer sentiment index of the domestic market was higher than it has been in the past two years. There is that positive sentiment among consumers for spending. It has been stated that if they do not have the money they will not spend. We all know the savings ratio has increased dramatically. People are saving because they do not have the confidence to spend. Fortunately that is now turning around and that confidence exists. While we do not want people to spend all of their savings, there is certainly room for a significant amount of it to be spent. We can see that is working. New car sales in January have increased compared with the previous year, notwithstanding that for a couple of weeks the weather made it very difficult for anybody to go to a car showroom to buy a new car.

The Minister of State, Deputy Peter Power, said that at the weekend he read the newspapers referring to the countries in the eurozone that were basket cases. It is not too long ago - before the Minister for Finance took the steps he took - that Ireland was included among those cases. However, now Ireland is not near the situation of Greece, Portugal, Spain or Italy. As the Minister of State mentioned, Britain has a fairly significant debt-GDP ratio of nearly 70%. There again there are also significant problems with employment. Ireland is a small and vulnerable country, but the steps we are taking are getting us out of the situation.

There is also the question of excise duty. The reduction in beer, whiskey and wine has reduced the consumer price index. There were significant increases and young people in particular, with disposable income, tend to drink more than others. It does have an effect, and it did, while at the same time it impacted on people travelling to the North to buy their booze for Christmas. That happened on 9 December, so there was a double whammy, and that will project itself into 2010 and beyond. It will be a softener, as far as the reduction in wages is concerned.

I am particularly concerned, however, as regards those with big mortgages, out of proportion to their incomes. Whether it is low, middle or relatively high income there are still mortgages out of all proportion to earnings. Payments per month because of levies, wage and salary reductions or reduced profits in private industry mean that incomes generally are lower than they were two years ago, while the mortgage payments remain the same. This is complicated by negative equity and whereas it does not affect the money coming in or going out, emotionally it is a distraught subject. I believe the action the Minister has taken with regard to the banks, with the code of practice stipulating that they do not take legal action against those in default before an extended period of time, is the correct course as far as people on low and medium incomes are concerned.

The Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Eamon Ryan put forward some solutions regarding banks extending the length of loans, making them interest repayable only, among other issues, and I was very sorry to see some commentators in Sunday papers at the weekend indicating that the Government should not help out these people with big mortgages. They argued, in effect, that since they had got into this position through their own fault, their neighbours should not have to bail them out. However, that is what this Republic is about, and what being a society is about, where in the best way possible those in difficult circumstances at a particular point should be given a dig-out.

On the question of competitiveness, I hope Deputy Higgins does not find this too boring.

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