Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Fine Gael)

I welcome the opportunity to briefly contribute to this debate on the economic future. We need an independent future but this will only happen if the right steps are taken to reduce the country's deficit. We have taken two steps backwards as a country and we are closer to the International Monetary Fund taking control of this country because of the mismanagement of the public finances. We were told only a few years ago that the country was awash with money which could not be spent quickly enough but we are now broke and looking into an economic abyss. Clearly, it is not just the Opposition or members of the public who share this view. It is the view of the bond markets and the analysts. Earlier today, it is sad to report, the Irish bond rates went up to 7%. If we were to go to the market at this moment in time we would be crucified because the markets do not believe the full truth and nothing but the truth is being told by this Government.

Fine Gael is hugely committed to putting the country first, ensuring we achieve the 3% deficit reduction by 2014 as agreed with the European Commission. There has to be some level of front-loading in December's budget but there is a tipping point at which ordinary citizens cannot accept any more tax increases. From the Fine Gael perspective, for every €4 spent, there should be €3 in departmental cuts and €1 of tax increases, which is a fair point and needs to be taken on board by the Government.

We also do not know the percentage reduction the Government is seeking to achieve in December's budget and in 2012 and 2013 to achieve the 3% reduction by 2014. That needs to be set out clearly in the four-year fiscal plan. Without this information being in the public domain the markets will not have confidence in Ireland and its ability to achieve the target. That the Government has opened up the books to the Opposition and encouraged it to come forward and see the extent of the black hole in the national accounts has to be welcomed. However, it did not happen before time. The constant drip feed of information which has been taking place in the past 12 months has clearly set Ireland's credibility back because we were told there would be €3 billion in cuts, then €4 billion and now €5 billion, €6 billion or €7 billion could be taken out of the budget in December.

Clearly, we have been strung along all this time and the public are angry. We have had no apology from the Government and the Taoiseach who brought the country into the abyss and who have mortgaged the futures of our children's children. The Taoiseach has not come forward and apologised directly to the Irish people. There are no bankers in prison, despite the reckless lending and everything else that went on in this country in the past few years. On the growth scenarios which have been predicted, there is a difference of opinion between the ERSI and the Department of Finance. We need full information on what the growth predictions will be for the coming four years. We also need to take into account the worst case scenario..

All the forecasts from the Minister for Finance have been wrong to date and his credibility is in shreds. We need to set out the different scenarios on the growth predictions in order that we can have a real debate on how bad things really are. That is why Fine Gael has consistently sought independent verification from someone outside the Department of Finance to examine the books and state what is the situation. From our perspective, we are very positive regarding the economy. We want an economic stimulus package included in December's budget. We need to get people back to work and that is the crux of the matter. If we have more people paying more taxes there will be less of a burden on the people who currently have to pay tax. The priority should be getting people back to work.

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