Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael)

I am glad to have this opportunity to speak. I will highlight one comment made by the Minister, Deputy Brian Lenihan, prior to the budget which was that he committed to ensuring that no sector would avoid a cut. In fairness, he has achieved this; not one sector has been left out of the budget.

The question of leadership, or a lack thereof, is raised. We have a petrified paralysed Government more afraid to make decisions than to think about positive action and proactivity. This is at a time when there is anger, disillusionment and apathy in the country. I believe apathy is far more dangerous than anger and it has entered this stage, which the Minister of State knows from travelling the length and breadth of the country.

We have a crisis. The budget was an attempt by the Government to get the country back on track towards recovery. This certainly will not be the case. We have had two years of nervous anticipation and expectation of cuts and more cuts. As John Maynard Keynes pointed out, it is the expectation of cuts rather than cuts themselves that can be more dangerous to an economy. I spoke to a small shopkeeper in Letterkenny who was able to point out to me that his sales in the three weeks prior to the budget were down 20%. It is this type of nervousness in the economy, the issue of leadership and the paralysis surrounding and associated with the Government that has left the country in a perilous state.

While accepting that we have to make hard decisions, we must also accept that we have to make changes including to the type of governance employed in the country. I do not think the budget has done so in any way. It is very big on theory but the specifics have been left out. Cuts of more than €742 million will be made in health but we have not been given specific information on them. Last year, €90 million was allocated to the National Treatment Purchase Fund, NTPF; this has been reduced by €5 million to €85 million. While €5 million is a lot of money, we are still spending €85 million on getting rid of gridlock and queues in our health services and on accommodating people who cannot otherwise avail of hospital services.

I have just received a note with clarification on the slot. I believe it will run until 8 p.m.

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