Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)

It is relevant to our constituency as well. Did we not have a jibe from Deputy Durkan about sharing a tough constituency? Every constituency is tough but I wonder where the socialists were when the budget was being formed. I do not see many of them here today either.

We are in serious economic times. I can proudly say I voted against the EU-IMF agreement, not because I did not want them in here, as I honestly believe they should have been in here a year before they came - I fully agree with that - but because I disagree with their terms, their interference and the cover they provided for the last Government.

Now the mantra has been adopted by this Government on every issue, whether it is a rise of tuppence on a gallon of petrol or a rise in the price of cigarettes. The Government did not blame the IMF for the rise in the price of cigarettes, but my colleague coming in now, Deputy Finian McGrath, who voted for it too, likes cigarettes. The Government blames the IMF and the EU for everything it does. The public is sick and tired of this mantra because these bodies have nothing to do with it. There is an agreement on loans we got from the IMF and EU and I was appalled at the interest rates imposed not so much by the IMF, but by the EU. The package is certainly expensive.

Within the Department, the Government and the Minister, Deputy Noonan, can do what they like. There is plenty of scope for being fair and reasonable and spreading the load, and the load must be spread. For some reason or other, which I do not know and which I cannot crack, and it was the same with the previous Government, there is an unwillingness - I am not shouting for a wealth tax - to spread the load among those who can afford it. Child benefit is a case in point. We are being told this mantra year in, year out that the Government cannot means test it - the officials are too busy and it would take too long. The previous speaker spoke also about how we should be able to deal with issues now with modern technology. It beggars belief that millionaires will state publicly in the media that they do not need the children's allowance, yet they get it. There is an unwillingness to tackle such benefits, which are totally unfair and should be means tested so that only those who need it get it.

It is a pity the IMF did not have more say in some issues in the budget two years ago when the previous Government brought in the pension levy which affected the lowest paid. The levy has had a fairly serious effect. The Acting Chairman, Deputy Tom Hayes, will be aware, as I am, that in my county the council officials - low-paid ordinary workmen on the ground and male and female clerical workers - paid the pension levy. What happened was that late one night before Christmas, a note or memo was passed to the late Deputy Brian Lenihan, for whom I have great regard, and the Government went back on imposing the pension levy on the fat cats. It is a pity the IMF did not insist on it remaining. It is a pity the IMF was not more forensic in dealing with where the waste and the unfairness really lies. I note this amending legislation will ensure there will be more elected persons on the board of the IMF because there are too many bureaucrats - Mr. A. J. Chopra was mentioned - making decisions.

There are also too many bureaucrats making decisions in this country. There has been a succession of weak Ministers and weak taoisigh who not only allowed them but rewarded, appointed and promoted them, and brought in more of them. Unfortunately, the Government has taken on the mantra of bringing in special advisers and breaking its own guidelines. Apart from breaking the guidelines, it sends a rotten message to the public. The public is taking serious doses of austerity, yet the Government seems to think that, within the number of streets where Government buildings are located, it can have a different law and do what it likes. That sends out the wrong message. The Minister, Deputy Noonan, knows that as well as I do. He was not happy about approving some of them, but it happened with the Taoiseach, the Minister, Deputy Burton, and many others. The other day the Taoiseach lectured Deputy Adams that he had bad advisers but, as I said to him, the Deputy does not have the same pot available to the Taoiseach to appoint special advisers. I refer to unelected faceless bureaucrats who are good for spin and more spin. It is such spin the Government does not know where to stop. It is in a continuous spin. The Government could fall off it some day, and that is what will happen because the public are sick and tired of it.

They are also sick and tired of being lectured about austerity. Deputy Durkan tells us about the socialists in the Fine Gael Party, but I do not know where they are. Was it Brendan Grace who sung of "scuts in Fianna Fáil"?

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