Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)

Neither I nor any other members of the Government wish to delay the budgetary process. On the contrary, we are all working as hard as we can to deliver budget 2011 on 7 December. After that date we will do everything in our power to conclude all budget-related matters within the shortest time scale that is consistent with properly fulfilling all required technical and legal procedures. Everybody agrees that this is a crucial budget, and any material change to the normal timetable would be neither necessary nor beneficial. Indeed, such a change could jeopardise the effectiveness of the budgetary process. If budget 2011 proceeds on the normal schedule it will still enable all key decisions to be made within a short time, and will also allow detailed consideration of more complex measures in the finance Bill.

It may be helpful to refer to the pieces of legislation that the Government wishes to be enacted before the Dáil rises later this month. These are the appropriation Bill 2010, which will give statutory effect to the Estimates passed by the House; the social welfare Bill, which will give statutory effect to any social welfare changes in the budget; and the financial emergency measures in the public interest Bill, which will provide for the reductions in public service pensions and reductions in pay for future public servants. The need for this legislation follows from the related proposals set out in the national recovery plan. There may also be legislation to give effect to some elements of the recent EU-IMF programme of support agreement.

The process of passing the finance Bill normally lasts from its publication at the end of January until late March or early April. The gaps between the various stages in the Dáil and Seanad facilitate Government and Opposition amendments, but there is no legal requirement for these gaps, and the timetable can be as short as possible provided that the House agrees. The only legal requirement is that the finance Bill must be signed four months after the budget, which, for budget 2011, is 4 April 2011. As a result of its technical nature and complexity, the finance Bill usually takes some months to pass all Stages. The forthcoming finance Bill certainly could not be concluded between now and Christmas, or even if the House were to sit in the few days after that to the end of the year. Notwithstanding this, the normal timescale for the finance Bill could be reviewed in light of the emerging political developments. As the Fine Gael members wish to facilitate the enactment of the finance Bill, I expect that they will have regard to this when proposing amendments to the Bill. In this regard, Members will recall that the Government did not propose any amendments on Report Stage to either the second Finance Bill in 2008 or the Finance Bill 2009, so as to speed their enactment.

Deputy Creed suggested that because the Lisbon treaty was renegotiated, so too could the EU-IMF programme. There is no comparison between the two. The speedy agreement of the programme was essential because our banking problems were too big for us to solve on our own and because the eurozone was under strong and growing pressure. Deputy Naughten described the EU-IMF programme as an "act of treachery" and a "contract of shame", and went on to say that it would bring real poverty to many homes. The Minister commented earlier today on the use of such extreme language. Without the programme, there would indeed be widespread poverty, as we would not be able to make sufficient payments to the neediest of our citizens - those who are dependent on social welfare payments.

Deputies Durkan and McEntee questioned the realism of the Government's projections, as did Deputy D'Arcy and a number of others, in light of the European Commission's less optimistic macroeconomic forecasts for Ireland. The Minister commented on this issue earlier today by saying that the Commission's more optimistic outlook for world trade would be beneficial to Ireland's export-led growth. The differences between the forecasts mainly relate to private consumption, but it is our view that the 2011 budgetary consolidation measures will reduce uncertainty and therefore help restore confidence and boost consumption. It should be noted that other organisations, such as the ESRI, believe that my Department's forecasts are too pessimistic.

I congratulate Deputy Doherty on the occasion of his maiden speech. However, we cannot accept his proposal to postpone the 2011 budget and call a general election. On a more positive note, Deputy Naughten mentioned that our economy has sound fundamentals, and Deputy McEntee referred to the fact that we have a great deal to be proud of. He pointed, as did Deputy Tom Hayes, to the great potential for Irish agriculture, which is the subject of plans in the four year programme.

We have a lot going for us as a country. The growth potential of our economy is better than many around the world and our economic essentials are still strong. It is important that we consider today's announcement of the third successive monthly underlying fall in the live register. I know this is partly because of the large amount of emigration; I do not need to be told that. However, we must acknowledge the falls in the number of registered unemployed workers in the occupational category and go through the details, which show some positive signs. As well as that, all of the reforms set out in the national recovery programme will assist employment growth in the coming months and years. This will add to our economy a dynamism on which we can build further growth, allowing us to achieve our growth projections and carry out the plans we have outlined.

See this speech in context