Seymour Crawford (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)

At the outset, I congratulate my party leader, Deputy Kenny, for insisting on this necessary open debate regarding the crisis facing our country. Many young people now live in homes and have large mortgages that were based on the property boom. Consequently they now live in negative equity with either decreased income or with no job at all in some cases. During the boom, the Government transferred the national debt to personal debt. While all Members appreciate that the Taoiseach at last appeared to tell them a little more today than he has been in the habit of doing, the possibility of a necessary reduction of €15 billion over the next four years is extremely serious. Although it is vital to meet our commitments with Europe and elsewhere, equally it is vital to do so in a way that does not destroy growth but gives an impetus towards job creation, which is our only way out of the present mess. In the limited time available to me, I wish to concentrate on two areas, namely, the wanton waste in the health care system and the need to recognise the value of the agriculture and food industry to our nation.

As a supporter of the Monaghan General Hospital project in County Monaghan, I note the county has been the guinea pig for the removal of services to local people. While the HSE has cut the cost of running Monaghan General Hospital, it has increased the number of staff at management level right across its structures. No matter where one meets an individual in the HSE, one finds at least ten other people in the room, all of whom have great titles and travelling expenses. Although the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Harney, has stated that up to €1 billion must be cut from the health budget, she has refused to deal with the cost of medicine. Can she explain the reason that a drug in a pharmacy north of the Border costs one third or less than the same drug south of the Border? Clear savings of up to €200 million can be made in the HSE with regard to this area alone.

Despite all the high technology that has been available to the HSE for the past 20 years, doctors on call in either a home or their dispensaries cannot get information from an aged person's medical cards. As a result, such an aged person in Monaghan will finish up on a trolley in Cavan General Hospital, if it still is on call, or much further afield. However, had the basic history of the patient been available, a doctor may have been able to prescribe accordingly and save all the hassle. The list of areas in which savings could be made within the HSE is endless but this will require leadership. I assure the Leas-Cheann Comhairle that there would be an enormous change within a very short period under Deputy Reilly. The Dutch and others have shown this to be possible.

As for the farming issue, with proper leadership and new thinking, the Food Harvest 2020 vision outlined by the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Deputy Smith, could become a reality, thereby retaining employment in agriculture and increasing employment in the food industry. We have a green industry of which we should be proud. It is vital that the Minister, Deputy Smith, and the Government recognise the farming industry is just emerging from an horrendous period of low incomes, due to the problems arising on foot of three years of extremely bad weather and prices. Farmers acknowledge that if they earn a reasonable income, they are liable to pay tax like everyone else. However, it is important for such tax to be based on actual income and not on gross output. It is important that the Government should think twice before introducing a property tax or similar measure that would completely undermine any possibility of growth in farming. For instance, in an area such as my constituency of Cavan-Monaghan, many farmers were obliged recently to invest major borrowings to ensure that all cattle were removed from the land during the winter. Such farmers would be much more heavily penalised by a property tax then would some of the farmers in the deep south. The agriculture and forestry sectors are key to the economy and must be supported.

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