Michael McCarthy (Cork South West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

We would be plunging the country into a political crisis as bad as the one in Greece, which is the line some Members opposite argued for when the crisis began. We would then have parties in government which did not take the time to go to the Department of Finance to have their proposals costed. It would be bringing amateurs into a very serious, high stakes game and it is high stakes for the citizens of the Republic of Ireland, not for anybody else.

The restoration of the minimum wage in the last budget was indicative of what left-wing politicians do when in government, as is exempting 330,000 lower paid workers from the universal social charge.

One might as well be speaking archaic Latin to a right-wing individual whose only interest is bringing down the Government so that it can be replaced with the right-wing ideology that allows his investments to be replenished. That is disgraceful. In the Croke Park agreement we have a vehicle that protects low paid workers in the public sector while achieving efficiencies.

I conclude by putting several questions to Opposition Members. They have rightly criticised the measures that the Government has taken. I am certainly not proud of this budget but it is essential. I hope for all our sakes that by the time we get to our fifth budget we will have fixed the banking sector and restored the public finances, which is what we set out to achieve, while maintaining the focus on those on low and middle incomes. I say that in deference to the people who are in trouble. We are trying to introduce measures that reduce the pressure on people in terms of their relationship with banks. I will not compare the Six Counties with the 26 counties. I have done that often enough to great aplomb in this House. I ask those who oppose the property tax whether they would abolish it if they are returned to Government at the next election. How will they restructure the public finances? Can they provide costed, constructive and honest proposals? Over the next couple of hours please tell the people whether they would abolish the property tax.

Sinn Féin's pre-budget submission, which did not make its way to Merrion Street because it would have been thrown out, suggests that Deputies' salaries should be reduced from €92,000 to €70,000. If Sinn Féin Deputies are currently drawing the average industrial wage of €40,000, and I have no reason to believe they do not, their submission proposes to increase their salaries by €30,000 per year.

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