Cyprian Brady (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

I very much welcome the opportunity to contribute briefly to this debate on the Finance Bill, which puts into effect the measures announced in the budget in December. For the past 18 months, this economy has been bombarded with challenges associated with how we function as a country and pay for the provision of public services. This Bill must ensure that all sectors of society make a contribution at this particularly dangerous time for the country. It is now being recognised internationally that the measures taken over the past 18 months, while painful for everybody, are stabilising and will stabilise the economy. This is the case although nobody likes to see people suffering as a result of cuts or changes to welfare payments.

Members should recall December 2008 when the Taoiseach announced and launched the smart economy document. He set out clearly what we had to do, when we had to do it and how it should be done. In the subsequent debate, the Tánaiste began one of her speeches by stating the measures being taken were about "jobs, jobs, jobs". This is still the case.

With the unemployment rate of 13% that has been forecast, we cannot afford to take any further hits. We must plan for the future and position ourselves where we were before the recession hit us. The targeted measures in the Bill to keep people in employment, create jobs and educate the workforce to take advantage of whatever opportunities arise can only be welcomed.

Delegations appear before the Joint Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment, of which I am a member, to explain how hard it is to do business and how much they are snowed under by red tape and bureaucracy. It is up to us to change that, and the measures we take to do that can only be welcomed.

We must keep the balance between our low tax burden and the economy we enjoyed while continuing to provide the essential services that people have come to expect from the Government, and the public service has a major role to play in that regard.

I have been operating advice centres for many years. We are back to the time when young men, and older men who have been let go from their jobs, came in with their CVs looking for employment. Public servants also have come in, not to complain but to state that they felt they were being targeted. As a direct result of some of the changes that had to be made, which are particularly painful for everybody on all sides of the House, these measure will ensure that we come out of the position in which we find ourselves.

We must compete internationally and build up a positive reputation. In recent years we built up a significant reputation internationally as a good place to do business. This is the time to be out there selling Ireland. We did it previously and we can do it again. Tourism Ireland, whose representatives came before the Joint Committee on Arts, Sport, Tourism, Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs today, is selling Ireland abroad every day of the week. That is what we must do.

I welcome the change in Revenue's powers, particularly in regard to tobacco smuggling. That is a major issue and is one we must deal with.

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