Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)

I wish to share time with Deputy Varadkar.

If we want to restore any sense of fairness in our society and if we want to get co-operation from those in the workplace who have taken great hits in their income and in the level of services they receive from the State, then we must do things like enact this Bill. This is a positive step taken by Fine Gael. We are trying to bring forward ideas to assist in a very difficult budgetary situation. I have listened to the Minister and members of the media telling the Opposition that we should be responsible and take seriously the difficulties we are facing. However, the minute we bring forward any decent proposal to help the situation, it is cast aside as if we do not matter. This is precisely the attitude that was adopted by the lead Minister of State last night when he dealt with this proposal.

The Government has lost touch with reality in its dealings with members of the public. It does not understand that if people's income is to be reduced, then we must bring down costs equally so that we have a reasonable standard of living and that we get co-operation from both the trade union movement and from the individual on the street. We cannot expect to have public charges remain at the same level or be increased while at the same time ask people to take massive cuts in income and services. That is precisely the Government's response to this Bill.

Deputy Calleary said that this Bill bears no relation to budgetary or economic realities. We are talking about people. The Government Deputies are obsessed with theory. We are talking about practicalities. We are talking about increased day-to-day costs that must be faced by people on reduced income. Business people are struggling with overdrafts and struggling to collect money owed to them. If they are trying to retain people in employment, they need help from the State and not sympathy. They need help in the form of reduced charges, be they rates, water charges, waste charges and so on. These things are in the control of the State, yet Deputy Calleary tells us that the Bill would "completely undermine the long established and carefully developed systems of independent regulation in this country." Who runs the country? Are we now run by regulators? Where is the Government? Does it not take decisions any more? Is it a mortal sin if we breach some regulation because it is in the interest of the people who we were elected to represent? Have we lost our way?

What regulator set the cost of a television licence at €160? The Minister for Finance sets that. It is entirely within his grasp to cut some of these charges by a miserable 5% and reduce the cost of a television licence to €152. What regulation will we undermine if we do that sort of thing? If we reduced the driving licence fee who would we upset? The passport application fee is €80 but we cannot even get passports. People have queued but have lost business because they cannot get a passport to fly out to carry out business and through his Minister of State, the Minister for Finance is telling me that we would undermine regulatory systems. He is not dealing with reality in his response to this serious Bill.

I doubt the Minister for Finance had the opportunity to read this Bill because from my past dealings with him I would have thought he would have had a more compassionate, understanding and intelligent response to a request, where it is within the Government's powers, to through greater efficiency reduce costs imposed on the taxpayers of the country or, where it is within its remit, to reduce the cost of such items as a television licence, which would not upset the budgetary calculations for the year.

Everybody will have to make sacrifices yet all the Government can do is rush into the House with emergency legislation. There is never any difficulty in increasing taxes or imposing charges and the Government seeks the co-operation of the Opposition in taking these measures. However, when it comes to a genuine effort by the Opposition to try to bring into line reductions in income with greater efficiencies and reductions in charges over which the State has some control, the Government finds it difficult to accept it.

Ministers make speeches and lecture the private sector on getting its costs under control. Did the decision to increase the third level registration fee from €850 to €1,500 cause many problems? It was an increase of almost 100%. All we are asking for is a 5% reduction. What astonished me was the negative response. I am sure the Government neither read nor thought about this Bill. The new company filing standard fee is €100. How would it affect the budgetary estimates if it was reduced to €95? It may be small money but when it is all added up it means a lot of money to a lot of people. I am providing small examples. A driving test fee is €110. What is wrong with reducing that by €5.50? These are the signals the Government should be sending out; that in asking people to take a cut in salary or wages in turn it will endeavour to reduce charges from the huge list available to all of us if we had the time available to consider the matter further.

This is a genuine sign that not only is the Government tired but that it has lost ideas and the will to take the trouble to think up new ways of getting balance in society through fairness in asking people to make sacrifices and show by example that in doing so it will respond, even if it is as small as reducing the cost of the television licence by 5%. It is not about the €8 difference that this would make; it would be a sign that the Government is taking this seriously, that it is asking people to reduce their income and in turn it will reduce their costs. The Government wants to maintain the level of costs and in some cases increase them but it expects everybody else to reduce their income. I rest my case.

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