Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

This document, which we received a couple of hours ago at the beginning of the debate, is a hospital pass. At the moment we are fortunate to have an exceptionally gifted generation of rugby players. However, this document is a hospital pass by this discredited Government to the next Government.

Let us consider the document. It is remarkable that the Ministers can come in here, one after another, and lecture us on the language used in debating the fact that the IMF is now running the country. The budgets are set out in this document for 2011, 2012 and 2013. They are in the document down to considerable detail. Let us examine it. Page 7 contains the budget for next year, page 10 contains the national minimum wage reduction, page 15 contains the budget for 2012 and page 18 contains the budget for 2013.

Deputy Fahey came into the House and lectured me, suggesting that if the Labour Party gets into government we might introduce a property tax. It is a pity he did not read his own document. Not only does it contain a property tax but in successive years there is provision for an increase in the property tax. Deputy Fahey is fearful that we might slap a tax on any of his properties but it is already here.

I am unsure what the next Government is expected to do. I offer a sample of the budget for 2012. We will take out €3.6 billion from the public finances, some €1,500 million of which will be in increased taxes. We will lower the personal income tax bands and credits. We will introduce a property tax. We will reduce the general tax expenditures. On the expenditure side, we will cut spending by €2.1 billion on what is euphemistically termed "social expenditure reductions" and we will reduce the number employed in the public service. That is what this document states. Although I use the term "we", this document was negotiated by the Government of the Minister of State, Deputy Roche, by Fianna Fáil, the IMF and the EU.

This is the document before me and it is all tied up. In case there is any doubt about it, let us turn to pages 22 and 23, which are fantastic. They are the monitoring pages. What happens if a Government should err? These pages set it down clearly. Every month, ten days after the end of each month, the Department of Finance will send all data on budget targets to our masters in Frankfurt and Brussels. Information on the main Government spending and receipt items will be sent by the Department of Finance weekly, every Friday. The NTMA is required to send weekly information on the Government's cash position with an indication of sources as well as the number of days covered on Fridays, reporting on the previous Thursday. It is no wonder the Minister of State, Deputy Roche, is quiet. I have not seen him this quiet in all my years in the House.

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