Martin Mansergh (Tipperary South, Fianna Fail)

I move amendment No. 1:

To delete all words after "Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following:

- commends the Government for bringing forward the National Recovery Plan which provides the blueprint to achieve budgetary stability over the next four years;

- notes that the Plan provides a credible path towards budgetary consolidation and a return to sustainable economic growth;

- notes that the measures in Budget 2011 will give effect to the first phase of adjustment committed to in the Plan to be put into effect in 2011;

- agrees that the national interest is best served by all parties in the House facilitating the passage of these measures in the present uniquely serious circumstances; and

- endorses a timetable which will see the presentation of the 2011 Budget on 7 December 2010, the introduction of the necessary Resolutions in accordance with usual Budgetary practice and the enactment in the New Year of the necessary legislation to give definitive effect to the Budget measures.

I wish to share time with the Minister for Defence, Deputy Killeen.

While one can agree with Fine Gael that there is an urgent need to establish economic stability, almost all Members of the House also recognise this need. The Taoiseach on 22 November stated that the vital national interests of this country require that financial stability be achieved.He went on to say that with the national recovery plan and the joint ECB-IMF-EU Commission programme for support, adopting the budget with its €6 billion adjustment in 2011 and taking the necessary legislative and other measures to give effect to the terms of the budgetwere how this stability is to be achieved.

Since then, the Government has published its National Recovery Plan 2011-14, which sets out a wide-ranging blueprint for recovery and a return to sustainable economic growth. It has also concluded negotiations on a programme for international financial support for Ireland from the European Union, the ECB, the IMF, as well as bilateral support from the United Kingdom, Sweden and Denmark. Eurogroup and ECOFIN Ministers have also given their unanimous support to this programme. Having published the national recovery plan and reached agreement on the international support programme, the Government can, to the extent that the business of the House allows, resume work on finalising budget 2011, which will be presented to the Dáil in one week's time on Tuesday, 7 December.

Next week's budget will be one of the most important budgets in the history of this State. When passed, it will mark a crucial step towards stabilising the public finances, the financial sector and the economy and will place us decisively on the way to recovery. If this House does not support what needs to be done and if, as a result, these aims are not achieved, those responsible will have to bear responsibility for the consequences.

The terms of Fine Gael's motion seem to imply that the Government does not want budget 2011 and all of its associated legislative measures to be debated fully in the Oireachtas. As matters stand, if the Dáil does not rise as planned on 16 December, this would result in six additional days being available to the end of the year, namely, 21, 22, 23 and 28, 29, 30 DecemberThese extra days would not be enough to enable the House deal with all of the legislation normally associated with a budget, in particular the finance Bill. Furthermore, it would be impossible to bring forward budget day, in particular in circumstances where the Department of Finance has been so deeply involved in preparing the national recovery plan and in dealing with the negotiations related to the financial support programme for Ireland. The Minister for Finance has been in the past accused of ramming measures through this House and so it is rather ironic that the main Opposition party wants him to rush through the full budgetary process in the short period before the end of the year. This is not what the Minister or any of his Government colleagues want.

The importance of this budget makes it imperative that all sides of this House be given the opportunity to debate as fully as needs be the budget and its associated legislative measures. This debate by Members of this House should enable voters who elected them to be presented with the basis for assessing in a balanced way the details of the measures presented in the budget and their implications for them and their families not just for next year but also for the years to come. Although there is nothing precluding the commencement of the finance Bill process immediately after the budget if the House decides to do so, it is traditional to leave time gaps between Stages, mainly in the Dáil. This is a good tradition which allows Deputies and Senators to examine the Bill and to submit amendments or recommendations to change it. The normal timescale also allows for the drafting of amendments by the Department of Finance, Revenue Commissioners and the Office of Parliamentary Counsel, as well as for printing of the Bill and amendments. Were an accelerated timescale to be adopted, this would also rule out Committee and Report Stage amendments unless they could be done in a short time, namely, within hours. This would not be advisable given the degree of complexity of tax legislation and the consequent risks involved.

Whatever about the length of the process in disposing of budget 2011, there is no escaping the fact that the programme of international financial support for Ireland and the framework set out in the National Recovery Plan 2011-2014, which is now embedded in this programme, will have to be implemented. This means that budget 2011 must give effect to the first stages of the programme and the plan. The scale of the proposed expenditure and taxation measures in the national recovery plan as outlined by the Government last Wednesday were such that, understandably, most of the contributions in the House in the ensuing debate and in the media have focused on these and not on the recovery dimension. While stabilising the public finances is essential and imperative, we cannot limit our actions to these areas. I have already referred to the fact that the plan contains a blueprint for recovery and a return to sustainable economic growth.

The plan identifies the areas of economic activity that will provide growth and employment in the recovery and specifies the reforms that the Government will implement to accelerate growth in these key areas. We have to help our economy grow by building on our strong export performance and this means that we have to improve our competitiveness. By this, I do not mean just the usual approach of cutting costs, primarily pay. While this is necessary the plan goes much further by identifying a large number of directions and setting out a wide range of proposals for making the economy, public and private sector, perform better in the future and therefore underpin dynamic growth across the board.

The Government will support the private sector through sectoral policies to deliver reforms, which will remove structural barriers to competitiveness, employment creation, and to securing the conditions for growth. These reforms will help support job growth in key domestically trading sectors, such as retail and hospitality, as well as supporting sustained growth in the key knowledge-intensive sectors. The plan will continue to develop Building Ireland's Smart Economy, under which the Government has taken action in each of the key areas identified in it. The Government has acted in all these areas to tackle short-term difficulties while laying the basis for future recovery. The new plan contains a large number of action points, on which the Government will deliver to secure reforms in the private and public sectors over the next four years.

I am confident the private enterprise sector will respond well to these reforms, in terms of increases in investment, job creation and growth. However, the public sector must also deliver reforms for private enterprise to prosper. We have to lower the costs of delivering public services, and these services have to be delivered more effectively. This requires transformation in the public service, which requires delivery on the Croke Park agreement. I acknowledge that the costs of adjusting to the present crisis have been greater for public servants than for most of the great majority of workers in the private sector, who have been lucky enough to keep their jobs, though many in the private sector have not kept their jobs and, therefore, that affects the comparison. Nevertheless, more is needed from public servants, if the cost of public services is to be brought to an affordable level, and if the level of these services is to be maintained with reduced resources. Adjusting to this new environment may be difficult for some in the short term. On the positive side, however, the result of these reforms will be that it will be easier in the future for public servants to do a better job and to gain recognition from their colleagues and from the public for doing so.

The set of reforms outlined in the plan is ambitious but these measures will work. The adjustments made to improve competitiveness through reducing pay and increasing productivity are having a positive impact. Our export growth will be strong this year and will remain so over the period of the plan. Over the past two months or so, there have been welcome indications that the labour market, in terms of employment and unemployment, is stabilising. Economic output, measured in terms of gross domestic product, will show a small increase this year. Given the fall of more than 7.5 % in GDP in 2009, this is a heartening demonstration of the resilience of Ireland's economy and of the potential for recovery over the next four years. Even today, the KBC-ESRI consumer sentiment index showed an increase in November after three months of sharp falls.

The indications of stabilisation are also evident in the retail sales index where the rate of decline in core sales has slowed in recent months. Although we should be cautious about these data, they are pointing in the right direction. Uncertainty is still playing a major role in economic developments, but the combination of the budget 2011, the EU-IMF programme and the national recovery plan will remove most of this uncertainty and allow for more informed and positive consumption decisions.

The amendment states, "the national interest is best served by all parties in the House facilitating the passage of these measures in the present uniquely serious circumstances". Fine Gael accepts the Government's overall objective for stabilising the public finances. While elements of its budgetary menu differ from those of the Government's, much of it is the same because we all have little room for manoeuvre. I, therefore, call on Fine Gael, Labour, Sinn Féin and other Members of the House, who have the national interest at heart, to facilitate the passage of budget 2011 in what are uniquely serious circumstances.

The budget will be hard but necessary. The world is watching what we do more closely than it has ever done. The House is expected to do the right thing by facilitating the passage of the measures that are needed now to extract us from the crises in the financial sector and in the public finances as fast as possible. If we do this, the underlying dynamism of our economy will provide a sustained upsurge in growth, which will create jobs and enable our young people to make their living in their own country. If, however, we are not decisive in our commitment to these measures, what is at stake is not just Ireland's future but also the welfare of the citizens of our fellow members of the EU. I am confident the House will know to do the right thing.

I always have a wry smile when literary and historical references are made by Opposition Members. Deputy Noonan conjured up the brave Macbeth who was a strong leader but I was thinking of the Forest of Dunsinane to describe the Fine Gael benches. Credit problems have been an issue for governments throughout the ages. Emperor Charles V was dependent on his banker, Fugger. The collapse of credit led to the French Revolution while British financial difficulties following the First World War, particularly loans from America, were a substantial motive for them to conclude the truce because of the effect this would have on American opinion.

Opposition Members are less concerned about the grave situation of the country and more eager for an immediate election. They will not have to wait long and, therefore, they might curb their impatience.

Deputy Naughten touched on the issue of procurement. He should note what the national procurement service has done in breaking up contracts and trying to make the system as friendly as possible to SMEs but, at the same time, one cannot ignore that Ireland is a member of the Single Market. One cannot apply to procurement the economic self-sufficiency model that existed in Ireland prior to the mid-1950s, as we have to conquer markets. We cannot simply reply on the home market.

Border issues were raised regarding the IMF and the EU. When the British Labour Government sought help from the IMF in 1969 and 1976, nobody argued for long that it had lost its national independence and sovereignty and it is quite clear that we have not. I refer to three areas in which it is clear we maintain control of our affairs. The purpose of the loan is to maintain the services we have, need and want. The 12.5% corporation tax rate is an important dimension of sovereignty and that was not touched. Much to the rage of some of our friends in the Sunday Independent, the Croke Park agreement continues to exist.

Deputy Durkan referred to countries being punished. I presume this was an oblique reference to the hard line attitude of the German Government to bailouts but I remind Fine Gael Members that they are part of the Christian Democrat grouping in the European Parliament and they are political allies of Chancellor Merkel. If they find themselves in power they will be able to exercise more influence than we have done but I have my doubts.

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