Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, will present his third budget to the House next Tuesday. The Economic Management Council will meet today but the Government, the Cabinet, has not and will not sign off on the details of the budget affecting every Department until some time before next Tuesday.

The mandate given to the Government, made up of the two parties of Fine Gael and the Labour Party, was to fix our public finances in a way that will allow for us as a country and as a people to exit the bailout later this year and, second, to accelerate the number of new jobs that are created to provide growth in the economy and hope and confidence for families who either have unemployment or are on very average incomes. They are the two steps involved in the presentation of the Minister's third budget. That is why the framework for the budget for next week has been agreed and accepted by the troika in Brussels as presented here with a change in emphasis from €3.1 billion to €2.5 billion.

I note that the budgetary submission sent in by the Sinn Féin party also has a reduction of €2.5 billion. I am unsure how Deputy Adams relates that to the charges he has just made. We are now in the 15th consecutive month of reductions in the live register. It is very important, as the Minister pointed out, that there be a primary surplus to help us to start reducing debt and to meet our targets, because that sends out an international signal to investment markets of the continued capacity of Ireland to meet its targets and the continued capacity to be recognised as a location for strong investment, which brings about competitiveness, which is always followed by investment in jobs.

The ESRI report indicates the potential to have 3% growth in GNP next year and 2% in GDP. If that can be reached it carries serious potential in terms of jobs. I note the comment from Commissioner Rehn in respect of the European Commission endorsing the position taken by the Government as we move to present this budget and, later in the year, as we move out of the bailout programme.

While the crisis was not caused by any of the people Deputy Adams mentioned, the difficulties and the challenges that the Government has had to face take into account the concerns we have about so many families and ordinary people who have had to put up with this for so many years. That is why the Minister, Deputy Noonan, will present his budget in the fairest and most equitable way that the Government can, given the constraints upon us and, at the same time, allow for the capacity for investment and for jobs to be created in schools, roads and capital infrastructure, following on the stimulus package announced by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform last year and this year and in the context of the capital programme between now and 2015.

Our targets and objectives are set and we have achieved them to date. We expect to continue to do that and to exit our programme this year and, between now and the coming years, move to a position where the mindset that applied some years ago will never return. The aim is that we can have put in place safeguards such that whatever happens our country will not slip back into that mentality. That is why the independent Irish Fiscal Advisory Council and all the other opportunities to prevent that happening are important. We recognise the challenge the Government faces. The Government, the Cabinet, as a cabinet, will make its decisions finally before the Minister presents his budget next Tuesday.

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