James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)

We listened to the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources as he spoke about how the summer can bring new life to the ground after a hard winter. I remind him that he and his Green Party colleagues have aided and abetted the Government in introducing a hard winter of discontent for the people. They will not be forgotten for that.

The Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Finneran, referred to the heart of this budget. The heart of this budget is hard, cold and deaf to the needs of the vulnerable. It flunks the job creation challenge while hitting the most vulnerable and putting yet more pressure on low and middle earners. For the second year in a row the Government has decided to punish carers, those with disabilities, blind people and widows. Out of a budget of €6 billion, it could not find an alternative to taking €90 million from this vulnerable group.

Taxes on low and middle incomes have increased dramatically. Fine Gael would not have increased income tax rates in 2011. The minimum wage is being cut while the public sector wage cap, at €250,000, remains too high and will not affect State owned banks. If the Government wants moral authority, it must lead by example. The Minister for Finance suggested that the Taoiseach's salary has been reduced by €90,000 but, given that it has decreased from a peak of €285,000 to €214,000, I do not understand how he did his maths. Deputy Kenny noted this morning that the Taoiseach now earns 14 times the minimum wage compared to a multiple of 13 prior to the budget.

Public sector reform has been shelved, resulting in lost savings, poorer service and even more of the cuts to the front line for which this Government has become renowned.

A three child family with a single gross annual income of €50,000 will face a cut of almost €1,800 per year. The same family would have been better off by €1,600 per year under Fine Gael's alternative plan based on more ambitious cost reductions and reforms in the public sector. Public sector reform and job creation are the keys to our recovery. My friends in the Labour Party wish to increase taxes. Fine Gael wants to increase jobs. I was struck by a number of points made by the Taoiseach in his speech. He said: "We are helping the unemployed." I wonder how he is doing that. He then said: "We already have jobs and growth plans in place." How often have we heard this from the Government? Plans for tomorrow are a substitute for action today. Where is the cut in employers' PRSI to take on new employees earning up to €354 per week? Where is the reduction in VAT from 13.5% to 12% to encourage more service orientated jobs? Why cut the minimum wage? This action merely makes the poverty trap worse.

The Government has excelled at conning the people. Three years ago we had an accident and emergency crisis and a ten point plan to remedy it, but nothing happened. We were told 1,000 extra beds would be put into the hospital system under co-located hospital plans. Not a single sod has been turned, not a brick laid or a bed delivered.

Last July, the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Mary Harney, sat where the Minister of State, Deputy Mary Alexandra White, is sitting now and scoffed at the notion of €200 million being saved on drugs. Yesterday, she announced, with great aplomb, that €200 million is to be saved on drugs. There is consistency.

Why does the Government take these actions now? Why did it wait until the IMF was at the door? The sheriff has not merely come to the door, he is now in the living room, eyeing up the various bits that must be taken away. Why was this not acted upon two or three years ago when it was suggested on this side of the House? The Government saved €90 million by depriving widows, the blind, the disabled and carers, when €200 million could have been saved through drugs reference pricing. These are the real hard choices that should be made by a Government that cares, is in touch with the people and listens, not one that is deaf.

Not a single banker has been jailed, although we are three years into this crisis. A banking policy was launched with great aplomb by the Minister for Finance, who said we would make a profit from it. Later he said it would cost us €4 billion, then €16 billion and now it is €50 billion. This is like "Casino Royale". The money just keeps going up and up and no one knows where it will stop.

A fair and effective budget will boost confidence and jobs. As the Taoiseach said this morning, in the public arena we need to start believing in ourselves again and to communicate this with confidence to the outside world. All that is true, but he left out a very important word. We need more than confidence. We need credibility, of which there none in the Government. It has no credibility with the people of the country, the markets or the international community. That is why the IMF is here to ride shotgun, to look over the Government's shoulder and make it report weekly, monthly, quarterly and annually.

Greed, bred with incompetence, spawned the catastrophe the Government caused to befall the country. The Government has crushed and crucified the country. It has poleaxed the people, eviscerated the economy and ruined our reputation. There has been no Government responsibility, transparency or accountability and no fairness.

An election is coming and the people will have their say. Fine Gael has the policies to get the country back to work. We have the people with the courage, the confidence and the competence to implement those policies. Fine Gael will reclaim this Republic for the people, for it is the people's Republic. We need a Government that listens to the people and speaks to the people and for the people.

See this speech in context