Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The current approach to righting our economic woes is not working. The policies of unregulated neoliberal economics have brought us into the deepest recession this State has ever witnessed. The previous Fianna Fáil Government oversaw the biggest boom to bust in the history of the State and the current Government is pursuing many of its predecessor's polices.

To put the debate on fiscal responsibility into context, the public breathed a sigh of relief when a change of Government came about following almost 14 unbroken years of Fianna Fáil rule. Fine Gael and Labour swept into power promising a new approach and a new way of doing business. Unfortunately for many of us, we have now reached a point where the situation is in fact worse. Public debt has risen under the watch of the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, and unemployment has risen under the watch of the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Bruton. Child poverty is now at a shocking 19.5%, which means more than 200,000 children now live in poverty. The total number of people in poverty is now over 700,000, all under the watch of the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Burton, and some 100,000 households are languishing on local authority housing lists under the watch of the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Hogan. These shocking facts prove that austerity and the policies of this shambolic coalition has failed. The facts also dispel the myth that the Labour Party in power provides protection for ordinary people. It does not. The Labour Party is colluding with every cut, closure and job loss. In recent days, the IMF, which is not exactly a radical organisation, has concurred that we cannot continue to cut and squeeze and push austerity down people's throats.

I see this only too clearly in my constituency. Unemployment in County Laois has now reached 8,798. It is worse in Offaly, where there are 9,275 people on the live register. Respite services in Abbeyleix and Mountrath, County Laois, for young people with intellectual disabilities are being cut by 50%. Threatened closures of nursing homes in Abbeyleix and Shaen are being overseen by the Minister for Health, Deputy Reilly, and by two Labour Party Ministers of State, Deputies Kathleen Lynch and Alex White. The budget for Portlaoise hospital is €8 million less than it was just a few years ago. The situation there is dire. The budget is on a knife edge and staff are under serious pressure. One member of staff told me that one person is now doing the work of three people.

This is all made worse by the fact that the Government appears to be inflexible in its approach to austerity. Its mantra seems to be: "Share the blame, with more cuts and more pain." Of course, this is unless one is a higher earner. Let me give an example from one arm of government. Some 235 local authority staff are earning over €100,000. Indeed, in the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, 21 staff earn over €100,000. There are no cuts or pain there. Where is fiscal responsibility in that case?

The Bill before us will inflict even more cuts and more pain on the general public. It is a result of the Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union, otherwise known as the austerity treaty. Ireland will have to comply with the medium-term budgetary obligation as outlined in the Bill.

For the record, Sinn Féin supports fiscal responsibility. In fact, we were calling for greater regulation of the markets long before the Bill saw the light of day. We were the only party that consistently called for regulation of the banks during the noughties. We were the only party that called for an end to property-related tax reliefs, rafts of which were introduced by Champagne Charlie and others. We pointed out consistently that transaction taxes were not the best way to fund the economy or Government expenditure and that we needed more sustainable taxes. We did this continuously.

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