Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

After five years of budgetary adjustments, it is inevitable we all feel we have reached the end of our tether, that we have had enough and that we cannot take any more. However, it would be tragic, when it seems we may be over the worst and on the cusp of recovery, to jeopardise it all and devalue the sacrifices that have been made by every section of society over the past five years, with the small but significant exception of a handful of politicians and of bankers who got off scot free. I accept that is galling for everybody. However, no matter how severely we would penalise these people, it would not make a real difference to the budgetary arithmetic, although I suspect it would make us feel a lot better. Most sections of society feel they are carrying a greater burden than others. It is only a small step then for them to feel that this tax increase or that tax cut should be borne by somebody else. Everybody feels hard done by, and the truth is they are. Everybody has had expectations shattered through no fault of their own.

The people who are most hard done by are not the public sector. They are those who have lost their jobs, their pensions and their savings. They are those older people who have lost jobs and will never work again and those young people who have had to leave the country in order to find jobs. Public sector workers have certainly taken a hit, but it is not the biggest hit, not by a long shot. Their jobs are secure, their pensions are secure and these are privileges funded by the rest of the working population. Of course, they also have the privilege to go on strike and take industrial action, something not available to the rest of the population or to those who have lost their jobs. Those in the private sector know that such action would threaten the viability of the businesses that employ them.

Realism is necessary now. The saving of €300 million is not a matter of choice. The Croke Park II negotiations and the ballot were never about the right to reject a cut of €300 million in payroll savings. They were merely about making a decision on how those cuts would be made, not whether they should be made. They must be made. Choice on a matter such as this cannot be left to chance. The truth is the decision was made in this Chamber and voted on validly by the majority of the Dáil in budget 2013. Some people have now suggested we could have an alternative budget and could spend the moneys saved on the promissory deal. This is a complete denial of the fact that the savings on the promissory notes was a saving on what we had to borrow, not money that is hoarded in the Department. Therefore the suggestion of an alternative budget is unrealistic. Surely nobody is suggesting we should borrow more in order to sustain salaries of 15% or 16% of the working population and jeopardise the salaries of the other 84%.

Another suggestion was that we should tax those earning over €100,000. On the face of it, this suggestion is appealing, but in reality we are at a point where if we increase tax any further, this will be counterproductive and will jeopardise the jobs of the majority of people working in the private sector. Therefore this is not an option. However, that said, I understand and feel that the cutbacks have not been easy for anyone. They have been painful and unpalatable, but no matter how we dress it up, the reality is that we must face up to our problems now and try to contain the borrowing or continue to borrow wherever we can and at whatever price we can, accumulate further debt and then pass on the problems to our children. To be honest, I do not want to be part of any Government that passes on a legacy like that to our children. Nobody wants to sacrifice and undermine the potential prospects, pensions, pay and prosperity of our children.

I commend the union leaders who recommended the deal to their members. I know this was not an easy choice and I know it was difficult for those who voted for it to do so, because nobody wants to vote for a cut in pay. Whatever happens, these people should not be disadvantaged in any new arrangement. I support the Government in making every opportunity available to the unions to come forward and renegotiate, however they can within the envelope of the €300 million. It behoves all of us, on both sides of the House, not to raise expectations unrealistically or to suggest there are expectations outside the €300 million envelope.

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