Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

We opposed NAMA and we have been proven correct in doing so, just as we watch the developers continuing to enrich themselves through more tax breaks on interest they have not even paid. We supported the Government on the Lisbon treaty and we have supported the plan to bring down the deficit to 3% by 2014 because it is right that we send the signal to the world that a new Government will tackle the deficit.

Unfortunately, it has taken too long for Fianna Fáil to grudgingly acknowledge that commitment. We should be clear, as the Government is still less than forthcoming about the kind of basic information that should have been available weeks before this debate, regarding growth forecasts for next year and the years beyond, as well as figures on the adjustment to be made in 2011. We should also know details of how the Croke Park deal will reduce costs or of how the bank bailout is going to be reflected in the deficit target. This is all information that in other countries would be provided to Parliament and to the public as a matter of course.

What I have outlined is an approach to budgetary policy that will allow us in a balanced and consistent way to start getting the deficit down. It will be an approximate 50-50 balance between taxation and spending and new approaches to current spending, capital spending and taxation. These are reforming measures that would allow us to make steady and consistent progress on the budget deficit while getting the country back on the road to recovery. It is on this basis that we can devise a credible plan for stability, growth and jobs.

Fianna Fáil has been in office for 13 years and it has left an enormous mess for the next Government to sort out. It has done so before but the scale of this disaster is unprecedented even for Fianna Fáil. Ireland is not the only country where an outgoing government has left a mess for an incoming government but it is surely the only country where the Opposition is asked to fix the problem while the Government that created it remains in office. This is a great country and we can sort out this problem. We can create jobs and growth but it is clear that will not happen until we have a strong and stable Government with a mandate from the people measured in years rather than months.

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