Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

At this point, it is important to inject some reality into the debate. Sinn Féin welcomes the growth that exists in the State. We have had a growth desert for the past number of years so any growth is welcome. However, it is very important that we analyse the contributing factors to this growth. If we do not analyse them, we are clearly liable to make mistakes with regard to policy.

The major elements within growth at the moment are external to the State and are not under its control. The key ingredients include the weak euro, low interest rates, quantitative easing, low oil prices and the growth of the UK and US markets to which we are very much tied, more so than the other European economies. A lot of pent-up investment and pro-cyclical investment is starting to seep through. The FDI exports sector is quite strong at the moment. There is no doubt that these are feeding at last into the domestic economy but there is a caveat. The domestic economy they are feeding into is mainly on the east coast and there is division between it and the west coast, the Border region and the midlands with regard to the level of growth. There is also a division with regard to the demographic elements which are receiving the benefits of that growth.

We heard a while ago that there is buoyancy with corporate tax receipts. Indeed we do and this buoyancy is startling. It is €2 billion ahead of expectations at this moment in time. When the chief economist at the Department of Finance appeared before the Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform on 8 October, I asked him what was behind this. He said that he could not say for sure but there is a growing body of opinion, mine included, that believes that much FDI is starting to regularise its corporation tax contributions due to the changes the Government is making with regard to corporation tax - changes the Government was dragged kicking and screaming into making. If the Minister had listened to Sinn Féin in 2011 and implemented those changes, imagine the billions of euro that would have been at his disposal to use within the economy. It is shocking that this is happening because the Government is being forced into it. I cannot think of another area of Government policy where the Government is forced to make changes to increase the level of tax buoyancy within the economy.

The truth is that there are strong tail-winds within the Irish economy. If these cease, the inherent weaknesses in the domestic economy will be exposed. This is why it is necessary for us to strengthen the indigenous economy and create real competitiveness to ensure real growth and strength. There is continuous Government divestment from the infrastructure of this State on an annual basis. Even in the Spring Economic Statement, the Government stated that it was planning to cut Government investment from 1.8% of GDP to 1.5% by 2020. Most conservative economists will say that just to maintain the capital stock of the State, this level of Government investment needs to be at 4% so the Government is divesting from the infrastructure of the State at a phenomenal rate. The outworking of that can be seen with regard to the Global Competitiveness Report, which says that Ireland has disimproved with regard to competitiveness over the past 12 months. In respect of areas like office rents, health infrastructure and water infrastructure, we are making it increasingly difficult for businesses functioning in Ireland to succeed and less likely that we can attract businesses to this country in the future.

It is also important to look at this budget in the context of the vandalism done to the Irish economy over the past years. We have a housing crisis where people are dying on the streets. We have a health crisis. The Irish Daily Mailreported that a young father of two bled to death in Dundalk due to the fact that an ambulance did not make it on time. We learned that a 91 year old man was left on a trolley for 29 hours in Tallaght Hospital.

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At the same time in that hospital another patient was left on a trolley for 59 hours.

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