Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to be able to speak on the Fiscal Responsibility Bill 2012. I was delighted there was a referendum on the fiscal treaty which I supported, albeit belatedly, but I was annoyed that we did not look for a better deal on it. However, the Government accepted it. This Bill is as a result of the fiscal treaty referendum being accepted.

I have met the troika representatives twice in the past 12 months and I am delighted I will be meeting them again next Wednesday. I am also delighted the International Monetary Fund, IMF, in its recent analysis, has discovered, hey presto, that austerity is not working. On its own it will never work. One cannot bleed an economy dry because nothing would be left to charge the batteries to stimulate growth. At the last meeting with the troika representatives we were informed they expected Ireland to have a 2% economic growth rate last year. This was at a time when those involved in business and the unemployed, even the dogs on the street, knew there would be no growth. When I challenged them to explain where this growth may occur, I was informed it would be in the private sector. While I did not ask them what planet they were on, I asked where they had obtained these figures. They said, reluctantly, that they were getting them from the Government and officials in the Department of Finance. Many of these same officials are the ones who got us into the mess in the first place. I acknowledge what Deputy Arthur Spring said. These are the same officials who advised the Government at the time to go for the bank guarantee and their legacy is still there. I compliment Deputy Shane Ross and his colleague Nick Webb on putting pen to paper about these untouchables. These are the people around whom the system has been built and it is one we cannot crack.

What person - I would hate to call him a lunatic - told the IMF we would have a 2% growth rate this year. When the troika delegates informed me this growth would be in the private sector, I pressed them further, asking if they had sent any agent to see how no one in any shopping arcade in this city or any other rural town or village was spending money. Austerity is not allowing people to spend, while those who have some money are afraid to spend it.

Members have spoken about the unfortunate practice of flying kites before the budget. I know the Minister of State, Deputy Brian Hayes, has done much in his area. I apologise for not being with him in Clonmel last week for the meeting with the Chamber of Commerce. It was unfortunate that it had organised it on a Dáil sitting day and one on which the Technical Group had tabled a Private Members’ motion. I know, however, the questions the Minister of State was asked because I am asked them every day by businesspeople who are desperate and whose businesses are just hanging on by their fingernails. They were hanging on in the same way under the previous Government, but they were promised so much by the Government. They should not have been promised anything because everyone knew the former Government was going to be put out. Many of the then Ministers ran with their tails between their legs and would not face the people. Now these former Ministers are on savage pensions. I do not understand why the IMF does not deal with the cost base of senior public servants and politicians and, above all, the disgraceful pensions with which those who got us into this mess have gone off. Why will the Fiscal Responsibility Bill not deal with this issue? It will not because the very same people are drafting Bills. We must tackle the elephant in the room, public sector costs, while businesspeople who are paying taxes, PRSI and rates cannot continue.

Every Member who listens to the people knows this is the position. There is no footfall in shops and rates are too high because we are paying too many senior executives in councils. We can blame the former Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, all we like, as he was the architect, but he received willing co-operation from the trade unions and senior public servants with a silent Cabinet that felt times were great and would never get bad. They granted incremental pay increases and gave different pay deals, but at what cost? Now we do not have a hope in hell of getting out of this situation with the bank debt we are asking ordinary taxpayers to pay. It is just not possible. As a very small businessman for 30 years, I know this. Let us take the Health Service Executive, HSE, as an example. Up to 70% of its budget goes on wages. That is lunacy. Any business, small or big, knows that if it gives nearly 40% of its turnover in wages, the game will be over soon. It was embarrassing to see the Taoiseach, like his predecessor, Brian Cowen, having to answer questions in the House every morning on the legacy and mess of the HSE. Some great work has been done in the executive, but there is a legacy of being overstaffed with too many officers. It has too many chiefs and not enough Indians.

The most sickening thing last week was to see the Taoiseach on the front page of Playboy magazine. I wish him well, as I voted for him as Taoiseach. However, I had expected a lot more from him.

See this speech in context