Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will start by reading something:

The Government has made ... major mistakes and it continues to make them today. ... The Government never learned that one cannot cut and tax one's way out of a recession. One can only grow out of recession. Consequently, its slash and burn policies were counter-productive ...

That statement is spot on and I could not have written it better myself. I have uttered words similar to those on many occasions, particularly during previous budget speeches. However, I did not write those words. The Minister for Finance wrote them, and he delivered them when he stood on this side of this House in response to Fianna Fáil's austerity budget in 2010.

The question we can legitimately ask ourselves today is: "What has happened since?" Have the corridors of power had such an effect on the Minister, Deputy Noonan, that he decided to implement, not one austerity budget but three, that he himself has said are counter-productive, because here he is again today - this time, in October, on the Minister's third budget announcement - peddling the same policies which he, the Government and his party have said were counterproductive. These policies were counterproductive.

Let us look at where they have got us. There are high levels of unemployment, high levels of emigration and high levels of poverty. This year we expect 0% growth in the domestic economy. Níl aon dabht gur gheall páirtithe an Rialtais cuid mhór - níl dabht ar bith fá dtaobh de sin - ach is beag atá á chur ar fáil acu.

The Government delivers its third austerity budget in a year that marks the centenary of the 1913 Lock-out, a time when great Irish men and Irish women stood up against greed, unfairness and the unending pursuit of profit on the back of the Irish workers.

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