Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

Having listened to the Taoiseach I feel he needs to change the administrative arrangements for overseeing the implementation of the programme for Government. The Taoiseach identified three headline issues. They are consolidation of the public finances, restoration of our international reputation and jobs.

I agree with the Taoiseach that public finances have stabilised. They did not stabilise in the last year. It has not been acknowledged that the budgets of 2009, 2010 and 2011 were fundamental to the consolidation of the public finances. Although Members opposite voted against those budgets and railed against them, they were central to the consolidation and stabilisation of the public finances. One shudders to think what unsustainable fiscal pathway we would now be on if those budgets had not happened. That should be acknowledged when people talk about the consolidation of the public finances, irrespective of the politics of the matter, which were serious and grave as a consequence.

The claim to have restored our international reputation is bogus. There has not been any substantive political or diplomatic initiative. Given the gravity of the eurozone crisis, I have long been surprised at the lack of head to head meeting with European leaders by the Taoiseach or by the Tánaiste as Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Much was promised in the area of jobs. In fact, too much was promised on all fronts. As a result, there has been a huge sense of betrayal and underachievement when people compare the last 12 months with the commitments made. Where is the NewERA commitment now? We were told 100,000 jobs would be created under the NewERA proposal. The strategic investment bank was meant to release significant capital funding, in addition to what had already been spent, to create jobs in the economy. There has been no appreciable change in access to credit, either by householders or, more particularly, by business people who wish to create jobs.

At the core of the programme for Government is a pledge to protect front line services. Clearly, this has not happened. The Taoiseach should admit that he has broken that promise. Everyone can see that for schools, gardaí, hospitals and nearly every front line service, the pace of cuts is growing and not receding. I ask the Taoiseach to comment on the fact that, for the first time in years, hundreds of young school leavers with disabilities cannot access placements in centres across the country because the additional funding provided every year to facilitate an increased absorption of students with disabilities from second level has not been provided. This is causing immense distress across the country.

This goes to the heart of what the ESRI said, that the 2012 budget was the most socially regressive of the last four or five years. For some reason the most vulnerable and least well off have been targeted across the board. Women have been targeted in their pension entitlements and in lone parent payments. The decision to cut funding to DEIS schools had to be revisited, for urban but not for rural schools.

Does the Taoiseach accept that the Government has singularly failed in its core commitment to protect front line services and that the least well-off have suffered the most?

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