Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)

I have three or four minutes to do justice to a debate. This is the second opportunity Members had to make a contribution on this and I thank everybody for their contribution.

The truth is we do not live in normal times. Listening to some of the contributions from the far side of the House, one would think these were normal times and we were not in a desperate crisis. We have taken a step back from the abyss over the past year because of concerted action by Government, but we are still far from clear of danger and we are required to make a series of decisions still which will be difficult. We should not be peddling the notion that there are soft and easy options, that we should be looking for enormous sums of money to invest in State companies rather than seeking to generate capital from State companies. Would that we had money. We are desperately seeking money.

Let me be clear about what is the strategy of the Government. First, the strategy of the Government is to focus on jobs. We need some form of stimulus to do that. We need to leverage money from the State assets to invest in the productive sector here. We need to look to other sources of income, including the National Pensions Reserve Fund, utilised through the policy of establishing a strategic investment bank, the first step of which, the Strategic Investment Fund, is up and running to invest in jobs. We also need to see how we can go about getting further supports from the pension funds. Some €70 billion of Irish workers' pension funds is invested - except for 2% in this country - all over the world and we must create vehicles for that to be brought home to be invested in the productive sector here.

All of that is under way. In the interim, we need to take difficult decisions. We need to realise that, and not peddle falsehoods, voodoo economics or Darby O'Gill economics that there is simple magic dust one can sprinkle. We changed Government last year. We did not change the economy. The Government must tackle the economic reality that faced us and we will do that.

Let me speak briefly about some of the contributions. Deputy Seán Fleming, in his usual balanced way, made some sensible, sound logical points and then could not resist having a partisan go to undo it all. In terms of this concrete proposals, he spoke of securitising future crops. That is what we are doing. That is the matter we are exploring how best to do.

On those who spoke of the forests being sold off, we are selling the trees. It was always expected we would sell the trees. When the trees mature, would they have us cut them down and present each citizen with one to put in their garden? They were always to be sold. That is not selling off the natural assets of the country. We must do that in a way that ensures we get best value now, when this country desperately needs the resources to keep the queues of which the Members opposite spoke from leaving the country. I am scandalised by such queues and I want to do everything open to me and to this Government to find a mechanism to prevent them having to take the plane or the boat out of this land. That is the number one objective of the Government.

Finally, there are some Members opposite to whom I listen regularly - Deputies Joan Collins, Boyd Barrett and Pringle among them. I think they are sincere. They believe what they say, namely, that we do not have to have real taxes so they are against collecting anything except taxes on the super-rich, whatever that means - there are billions there, if we could only tax the super-rich, but they do not want to tax anybody else or to cut expenditure. That fantasy-land is well and good for sloganising and rhetoric. We live in the real world. We have to get on with doing the people's job, giving them hope to ensure they and their children have a stake and a future in this land.

See this speech in context