David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

There is no doubt a recovery is under way. We all accept this. There is no doubt the public finances are better now than they were two, five or even ten years ago. There is no doubt the fiscal space, on which we can have disagreements, means we will have approximately €10 billion extra to spend over the next five years depending on what we want do with it. I do not dispute the figures in the spring forecast and stability programme update presented to us but the reality is all of these figures must be put in the context of Fine Gael's taxation and budgetary policies and the policies of Fianna Fáil which in my view are very similar. They put forward very similar fiscal policies in the election.

The figures in the budgetary plans on page 44 of the document, referred to by Deputy Doherty earlier, on the total revenue spend as a percentage of GDP and the total expenditure spend as a percentage of GDP really expose the fact that the low tax, low spend policies of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil will continue for the next five years. The revenue spend as a percentage of GDP will reduce by 3% and the expenditure spend as a percentage of GDP will be cut by 8.5%. This does not mean we have much scope to be able to deal with the housing crisis, the health crisis and the real levels of poverty and all of the inequalities we have in this State.

Let us look at the report we received, as shiny as it is, at all of the statistics and figures in it - the Minister will sell in a very positive way some of these figures - and juxtapose the report with, for example, the report from a voluntary housing association published two weeks ago, which showed record levels of homelessness throughout the State, and the UNICEF report published last week, which showed one in five children in the State goes without basic needs, and measure the report against Irish Cancer Society's report published this week, which laid bare the real inequalities we have in health care in the State where public patients wait in some cases 25 times longer than private patients, and against the OECD's report on low pay published last year, which showed that one in five workers in the State is in a low paid job with many suffering from deprivation, and the EUROSTAT report published last year, which showed record levels of income inequality in the State. This is the reality of the policies which have been pursued by the party of the Minister of State and by Fianna Fáil. The consequence and outworking of these policies mean children go hungry, families end up in mortgage distress, children sleep in emergency accommodation, patients lie on hospital trolleys, older people do not get home help and families live in poverty, and all of this will get worse.

I read the chapter in the update report on the labour market, which does not at all deal with the reality of emigration and the impact it has had on the unemployment figures. It does not at all deal with the massive issue of low pay and it does not deal with the so-called labour activation schemes and the impact they have on the figures. It is a very shallow assessment of the labour market and the real challenges in low pay we have in the State. It does not deal with many of the potential shocks and challenges which face the labour market in the State.

We welcome the fact we will have changes on how budgets are formulated and the fact Fine Gael has stated it wants to hear the views of the Opposition, and we will bring forward our policies and views. However, we can have all the documents we want but the reality is that as we move into a new dispensation, if the budgetary plans in the document are delivered and we have a reduction in revenues and expenditures as a percentage of GDP, then how will we deal with the real catastrophe we have in housing and the challenges in health care, public spending and public services? We will not be able to do it. It was already remarked that we have one of the lowest capital spends in the entire European Union as a percentage of GDP but Fine Gael wants to reduce it so it can give more tax cuts to the wealthy and super wealthy in the State over and above ensuring that children, older people, sick people and those who need supports get them. This is the reality of the policies being pursued by the outgoing Government and, I would say, that will be pursued with the support of Fianna Fáil if some arrangement is concocted over the coming days.

See this speech in context