Dáil debates

Wednesday, 1 December 2010

Stability and the Budgetary Process: Motion (Resumed)

 

7:00 pm

Photo of Andrew DoyleAndrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael)

I agree with one point that has been stated by the Minister and others. We have, and always have had, the ingredients for a good economy and a good nation. The problem is that Fianna Fáil-led Governments, which have been in power for 20 of the last 23 years, have allowed that to diminish in the interest of staying in office and for the benefit of that party and the people who led it. This is the sad truth. In many ways, this House has become irrelevant. No matter whom the people elect to the House, time after time, the Taoiseach of the day or the relevant Minister appears outside Government Buildings to announce key initiatives and policies. In the partnership process, the gates of this House were bypassed. The process was set up in the late 1980s with good intention and for good cause, but it has become totally dysfunctional and needs to be re-examined and redeveloped.

A dripping tap is sometimes used to torture people in order to get information out of them. Since 2008, when we were told that the banks had a bit of a problem, we have been drip-fed the truth. The purpose of this evening's motion is to restore confidence, because confidence and reputation are important. This evening, I listened to the chief executive officer of the National Dairy Council speak. He and others in the agricultural sector see major potential, although they acknowledge, reluctantly, that what has happened in this country is casting a shadow over our image as a nation that has the ingredients to produce, export and prosper. We can, and we must, do that. At a conference on Monday, I heard a man use the term "export or expire", and that is exactly what this country must do. However, we are hobbled by a debt that we cannot manage.

In order to achieve stability and try to engender confidence in our country, we should set up a solidarity bond which would tap into the reserves of money that the people of this country have saved because they are afraid to spend it. This would be better than using the National Pensions Reserve Fund, which is our rainy-day fund and is designed for a specific purpose. It will be only another 10 or 12 years before it is needed, and it will not be there. When we get over this hiccup, we will have to decide how to manage this in the future.

The Irish people have been good Europeans, which is why the package that came through on Sunday was so disappointing. As pointed out by one of the previous speakers, the responsibility of the European Central bank is the stability of the euro currency. In this respect, it differs from the Federal Reserve in the US, which has other functions. We have been conducting an experiment. I predict that in six months' time, this whole project will be re-analysed and the flaws that are manifesting themselves at this point will be dealt with. I hope we will be in a position to renegotiate a better deal when that is finally acknowledged by the powers-that-be in Europe.

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