John Halligan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

That is also a problem. Small businesses employ the vast majority of the workforce. While a small number of large companies employ 800 or 1,000 people, many tens of thousands of small businesses each employ five, six or ten people. The owners of these businesses will tell us that people no longer have any spending power. They are unable to survive because of overheads, high rates and so forth. People are not coming to their shops to spend and not sourcing goods in the large volumes they used to purchase but are choosing instead to try to survive from month to month. If we cannot induce spending in the domestic economy and its many small and medium-sized businesses, we will be in serious trouble. This matter must be addressed.

I do not view my role in opposition as one of attacking every measure the Government introduces. As I stated, it was dealt a bad hand of cards. It galls me to hear Deputies from the Fianna Fáil Party advocate solutions to our economic problems. I also have some difficulties with what Sinn Féin is doing in government in Northern Ireland.

Job creation and protection are everything and the route we must take.

In the lead-up to the budget I remind the Government of the commitments given in the programme for Government on how the budget would be prepared. Leaking decisions and options is causing enormous untold anxiety to thousands of households. Fianna Fáil did it for years. I plead with Ministers, many of whom I know are decent, to stop this practice which only frightens different groups about cuts. All it does is forces people to save the few miserable bob they have. We save more in Ireland than in most other European countries, but it is no good to the economy because we are not spending it. Even those on small incomes are trying to put a few bob away every month just in case something bad happens. Ministers do a disservice to ordinary people by leaking budget details.

Will the Government meet and engage with groups such as Social Justice Ireland and pay close attention to the frank, honest and upfront suggestions they make? While the Government may believe it is on a path from which it cannot deviate, sometimes there is no harm in a little humility to listen to what others have to say. I have been involved with Social Justice Ireland for many years. Last night I attended its briefing on the budget at which some of the recommendations made sounded good. It is not too late for the Government to take some of them on board. If it can try different options without making the usual suspects pay, there will be some decency in this.

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