Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)

I do not have the interest or time to criticise the Government for its sins of the past decade. They are well recorded and it will be judged accordingly.

I will make two points. First, if John Bruton had been re-elected as Taoiseach in 1997 we would not be in difficulty to the extent we are today. He would have had the intellect, capacity and focus that was missing in the past ten years and would have been unburdened by the personal difficulties which must have been a huge distraction to our last Taoiseach. Second, I am confused by the continuous reference by Government Members to the fact that we must push political differences aside and work for the good of the country. Surely we were elected to work for the good of the country and if a generation of politicians have to pay a price of failure, then so be it.

The most important challenge facing this Government, and what should be its whole focus, must be securing our future in terms of funding. Confidence in Ireland must be restored to the economic markets. We do not have to whisper this, because the markets are way ahead of where we are in this House. The general public is ahead of us. We have been cocooned in a parallel universe and indulged in manoeuvrings that have no relevance. The public has moved on and so must we.

Faith in the political system will be restored only by our actions, not by our words. Corporate donations must be banned and clear blue water has to be created between the builder, the banker and the politician. The criminal justice system appears to have failed to deal with wrongdoing in this area. We must correct this. Spending limits on a yearly basis must be imposed on politicians and legislation should be introduced to achieve this. Our banking guarantee alone will cost in the region of €60 billion to €70 billion over the next ten years. In seeking to ensure funding we must be mindful of the impact on economic growth and the need to look after the most vulnerable in our society. The Government will eventually bring in a set of proposals. This should be done sooner rather than planned as a terrorised public lose confidence by the day. There is no mystery to this. In the interim the Opposition must also put forward proposals. Fine Gael proposes to bridge the gap by 75% cuts and 25% tax increases. The cuts must be across the three main headings of pay, welfare and other services. Pay savings to the Exchequer are important but, greater than that, they send a signal to the markets that we are a country concerned with competitiveness and the private sector is not alone in taking pain. In the past two years the average national income has decreased by 20% while that of the public sector decreased by 13% to 14%.

The Croke Park agreement allows for a change if there is a significant financial deterioration Surely now that is the case. The social welfare budget protects and helps many vulnerable people but also helps many who are not so vulnerable. There is scope for savings. Other services, such as health, justice and so on, will have to be cut back. The tax base will have to be expanded. Aligned to all of these measures there has to be a policy of economic growth. We have to invest in our potential strengths, namely, education, tourism and agriculture.

We always tip the cap to small businesses but time and again we establish agencies to patrol rather than assist. Our economy has contracted by 20%. Surely charges should drop accordingly and local authorities should improve efficiencies. Can we put in place a package for our diaspora to purchase our ghost estates? Can we devise a scheme to release the billions in savings, such as a macro car scrappage type scheme?

Throughout this debate we all talked about restoring confidence to the economic markets. The solutions are tough but also straightforward. We also call for political leadership but surely that is in our hands and the next few weeks will demonstrate if we have it. We must act now before others do. Do we want to hand over sovereignty or take the hard decisions? The budget should be brought forward to the earliest possible date as the current fear and vacuum has created paralysis in our economy.

In a nutshell, we have to reform politics and put a divide between the politician, the developer and business. We are looked upon abroad as a banana republic due to the close relationships between those sectors. We also have to make the hard decisions and examine the Croke Park agreement. It is not about going after the public sector. This will have to happen in the next few years anyway so let us be realistic. If we are serious about restoring confidence to the economic markets we have to examine every aspect. We cannot come in here and pontificate and call for leadership, hard decisions and the restoration of confidence by the bond markets in this country if we do not make the necessary decisions which are required to ensure confidence is restored.

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