Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)

I am glad to have an opportunity to speak on this Bill for a number of reasons. It is the first step taken by the Government, as promised during the course of the general election and in the programme for Government, to introduce a jobs initiative. There have been many inquiries about what the jobs initiative would entail. I was adamant that it should be positive. I am sure everyone in this House felt similarly.

The Bill is positive. It touches the most important aspects of our society, with particular reference to our economic society. If we do not regenerate growth in our economy and encourage employment creation we will not go anywhere. We are in a deep recession and a difficult position. We cannot wish it away. It will not go away. We must work our way out of it. We must work harder for longer and for less, as you and I know, a Chathaoirligh. This is difficult but that is how it is.

Sacrifices must be made. The Bill imposes sacrifices on people. Of course people do not welcome that. They could not do so. The situation we are in is not one we would wish upon ourselves. It has come upon us. I am not about to blame the Opposition for the situation. I simply say it is there now and we must deal with it. The Government must deal with it in the only way it can. That is by introducing measures that are calculated, strategic and will impact positively on our domestic economy and in the wider economy throughout Europe.

I have listened to many speakers over the past few days asking why the Government did not do X, Y or Z or why it did not spend more money. Do people not understand that there is no money available? The country is borrowed up to the hilt. It is all gone. It is spent. What happens when you bet on a racehorse? As you and I well know, a Chathaoirligh, if the horse wins you have money in your pocket but if the horse loses you have an empty pocket or a hole in your pocket. Unfortunately, we now have a massive hole in our pockets. All the people of the country must put their shoulders to the wheel and do the things that must be done to bring about a change.

We must also restore confidence in our position internationally. There is no good saying we are great guys. We all said that during the boom times of the Celtic tiger. We were great guys. We were the richest country in the world. Do Members remember when we were the second or third richest country in the world? Where were we going? What were we thinking about? We were not the richest country in the world. However, we are good, and if we do the things we know well and do them better, we will be good again. We will not be lectured to by anyone or subordinated to anyone. We know our obligations. They are before us and graphically presented to us. If we do not stand up to them our credibility is at stake.

Our credibility may be questioned in the way the Celtic tiger was allowed to boom on. We all know that after every boom there is a bust. The famous roaring twenties were followed by the hungry thirties. After the boom came bust. It has always been the same. Ask any householder. If you spend your money unwisely you will pay the price. Do we have the grit to pay the price? I believe we have. I believe the Government is doing the right thing.

The Minister set out the sections of the Bill. Research and development are hugely important at this time. We must use innovation and technology to advance in the areas we are good at. This can and will be done. We must create a situation where economic growth can take place. We must give those who are interested in promoting that concept some leeway and latitude. Every single Government Department has within its ambit the capacity and responsibility to look at itself and find out how best to contribute to this concept. Over the past ten years, in every Department we have seen the growth of bureaucracy, red tape, obstacles and recirculating correspondence in such a way as to give employment but no growth to the economy. That may give temporary employment to somebody but it is of no benefit to the economy whatsoever. As you and I know, a Chathaoirligh, because we have spent time in the health institutions and local authorities, this goes right down to every Department. Every Government Department is being examined to see how it can contribute positively to the situation in which we find ourselves and towards the goal of achieving the targets that have been set.

On another issue, I am amazed that some Members of the Opposition refer to what was promised before the election. The current Government promised nothing. The Government parties said we are in a difficult situation, we will do our best to work out of it and we will do everything possible to ensure we alleviate in so far as we can the impact on the people of this country. That is what the Government is doing and where its responsibility lies. Nobody said it was going to be easy or that it would be achieved overnight. It is not much more than 50 days since the formation of the Government. I would be amazed if the country had been turned around and we were back in boom times again. It will not happen that way, it was never thought of as happening that way and nobody ever promised it would happen that way.

It may be that some of those who now find themselves on the Opposition side of the House, although they are absent from the Chamber at present, had the notion that were they on this side of the House now, they would recover the economy overnight. It took them 15 years to sink it to its current depths, and they did it magnificently and to such an extent as to leave a huge burden of responsibility not only on the Government but on the people. They did it without permission. They never asked the permission of the people or whether it would be all right to do what they did. They just did it - that is the way it is.

I congratulate the Minister, the Government and the two Government parties for their willingness to tackle this task in the way they are doing. I am sure we have not done everything right and that improvements can be made. One of the points identified by some in recent years was the difficulty of achieving economic growth. We knew this two or three years ago. On 29 September 2008, we who were then on the other side of the House identified these issues and the difficulties faced by the economy and the people at that time. We knew it would not be an overnight success no matter who got into power. Those who suggest there was a promise of overnight success or a promise that everything in the garden would be rosy are wrong.

The provisions in regard to the research and development tax credit are positive and will help to achieve economic growth. Incidentally, I note the Minister has identified a positive element in the sense that there will be economic growth. Some of us thought two, three or four years ago that there would not be any economic growth and that we would now have negative growth. It is hugely important that we have achieved what we have. It is a huge success, even in a very short space of time. It is true to say that the outgoing Government was forced to make those provisions and do what it did, although it did not like to do it. The fact is that this must be carried on. We must continue to improve our economic position because the difficulties have not gone away.

With regard to the markets and economic activity, the Minister in his speech stated that with the contraction in the economy from 2007 to 2010 tourism between this country and the UK fell by 32%, or almost one third, which is a huge issue. We hope, as I am sure everyone in the country does, that the promotion this country has received in the past couple of weeks will be of benefit to that sector, which is very labour intensive and a sector where jobs can be created quickly. Tourism is totally governed by demand, however, and we must create that demand. Hopefully, we are doing that.

The issue that has received the most attention is the pension levy. No levy will be welcomed. If the Government had any other options, there would not be a pension levy and there would be a much easier regime generally in regard to the current economic performance. There are no other options, however. When I hear it suggested that we will not pay the European banks and we will default, I find it extraordinary. I am sure the Acting Chairman, Deputy Ciarán Lynch, has advised constituents over a long period. One of the things I am sure he never advised them to do is to go into a bank or financial institution and tell the person behind the counter "I will want money for the next four or five years on an ongoing basis to run my house or business but I will not pay you back the money I owe you". That would be a strange situation and would create in the mind of the person on the other side of the counter the possibility that he or she would be taken for a run. Unfortunately, we cannot take people for a run any more. We cannot take them around the course for a gallop.

We must be up-front and honest, and tell our European bankers that we intend to deliver. We might not like the terms and conditions they have set down, and we will negotiate better terms when we get to the higher ground, but we must get to the higher ground first. This means we must be able to tell the bank manager or person on the other side of the counter that this is how we propose to run the budget for the next two or three years, that it will achieve results and that, when it does, we will seek a review of the situation. This is what is done ordinarily in banking practice. When one gets to a particular situation, one can negotiate. One can do many things when in a bargaining position but, if one is not in a bargaining position and is waiting for a cheque to come from some institution to pay the wages for the coming years, it changes the situation dramatically.

The Bill does something along those lines. It reassures the international institutions that we are not just a bunch of chancers, that we take matters seriously, that we intend to stand up and be counted and to run our economy in the way it should have been run in recent years. If anyone doubts that, we need to go back 14 years to find a situation where the Minister for Finance left Government with the books balanced, everything in order, the engine running perfectly and job creation running at 1,000 jobs a week. People have forgotten how it was in 1997. A strange situation developed in the meantime where everybody said-----

I withdraw that, Acting Chairman. Everybody did not say it.

See this speech in context