Pádraic McCormack (Galway West, Fine Gael)

It is fitting to have these statements over two days to throw some light on how we might get out of the very dark place in which we find ourselves. However, nothing I have heard so far from the Government is encouraging. My constituent colleague, Deputy Fahey, who has left the Chamber, spent all of his allocated time criticising what people in the Opposition, particularly the Labour Party, stated in their proposals, without putting forward one concrete proposal on what the Government itself might do. I thought the purpose of the debate was to find out what the Government might do, but criticism is the trend of the debate.

I listened with interest to the first contribution to the debate by the Taoiseach, Deputy Brian Cowen, and I have his five page script. The best that can be said about it is that it is in small print and both sides of the page are used so at least he did not waste too much paper. Apart from that, his long contribution to the debate contains no positive proposals. Saving paper reminds me of all the glossy magazines we receive from Departments and quangos. They are piled high in my office and I am seeking somewhere to recycle them. We do not have time to read them.

The Taoiseach stated the people of Ireland are looking to this House with understandable concern, and this is very true. He stated the people are concerned about their future, the proposals for their children, the well-being of their neighbours and the country as a whole. This is also true. He then stated the people are looking to this House with hope and expectations. I doubt it very much. I would say they are looking at the Government benches in the House with fear and despair.

To solve the problem, the Government must first acknowledge the depth of the problem and its serious neglect in causing the problem. None of the Government speakers has done this. Instead, the Government has attempted to suck in the Opposition to spread the blame and share in the severe measures necessary to solve our problems. This seems to ignore the fact that the Government was elected to govern, but the Fianna Fáil-led Government has failed to do so for the past ten years. It allowed Anglo Irish Bank to run amok with reckless lending, closely followed by AIB with Bank of Ireland following third.

The Taoiseach's address is laced with phrases such as "the necessary confidence to the international markets" and "secure our funding position". I asked the Taoiseach whether we were now governed entirely by our European partners. The Taoiseach stated the public service has a critical role to play. Where is the evidence of the reform of the public service as promised in the Croke Park agreement? The Government continues to state it will set out income and expenditure measures but we have not heard what they are. However, it expects the Opposition to produce an alternative budget.

The Taoiseach stated he must aspire to the goal that all our citizens have an opportunity to work and be valued in our society, and so say all of us. However, who caused the problem? The Government did and it is now trying to suck in the Opposition to ask us to help it solve the problem. Deputy Varadkar and others have put up very positive proposals. Our spokesperson for finance, Deputy Noonan, spelled out for the Minister for Finance a number of workable solutions with minimal costs to the State. These are practical measures that I ask the Government to examine. I advise the Government to read again Deputy Noonan's contribution.

I have further advice for the Government. It is estimated that the Irish people have up to €90 billion in savings in banks, post offices, under the mattresses or perhaps in safes; I do not know where they have it. They are saving this money because they fear losing their jobs or houses or for medical care in later life. If the Government issued bonds at 3% or 4% it would be able to use this money rather than purchasing bonds from abroad at 7%. That money is in the country to be used for the country. With just a little initiative from the Government we would solve some of the problems. I suggest it seriously considers this.

Throughout the country are empty houses, unfinished estates, empty and closed hotels, and deserted houses at seaside resorts. These were driven by Government tax breaks between 1966 and the most recent election. The Taoiseach suggested in 2005 that he would abolish these tax breaks but postponed this until 2006 and then kept them until the election. The purpose of this was to win the election, but at what cost to the State? This reckless situation has now cost the State billions in revenue. The Taoiseach recognised this in 2005 but did nothing about it because he wanted to retain the votes of the developers, the breakfast roll man and everybody else who thought the bonanza would never finish. This was done to buy votes at a cost to the State and this was the serious aspect to it.

The Taoiseach's version of events is simple.

He claims he terminated most of these. He decided to terminate them in 2005 in his first budget. He takes the credit but now regrets he did not do it sooner. The Taoiseach's decision in opting for a phasing-out of those tax reliefs has cost the State and is responsible for the current situation in which many young couples are facing the threat of losing their jobs and losing their houses. This is the reality as a result of the policies of this Government yet it is criticising the Opposition proposals instead of offering concrete proposals to solve the problem.

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