Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I wish to point out to the Taoiseach that under the confidence and supply agreement, Fianna Fáil has facilitated the past three budgets and has not taken an approach of wild expenditure commitments. Fianna Fáil has been highly responsible, as the Minister for Finance has confirmed. The Taoiseach might take note of that and have the generosity of spirit to acknowledge it because there would not have been a Government or an Oireachtas otherwise. We would have an election every year if such an approach were not taken based on policy.

The Taoiseach is not being honest or truthful on the budgetary framework. The bottom line is that the Taoiseach cannot square the circle in terms of what is available to spend and the promises that he has made. The bottom line is that housing and health are in dire straits. There is no question about that. They will need additional supports.

The fact of the matter is that it was the Taoiseach who made the tax pledge of €3 billion more than a year ago because he thought there would be a general election last year. Let us make no mistake about it. It was the Taoiseach who made promises in advance of the local elections, not anyone in the Opposition. The Taoiseach said, without even consulting in advance, that he would spend €3 billion despite the fact that the Secretary General of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform said it was madness. Essentially, that is what he said. He did not use that language but anyone can read through the memorandum. It is a damning indictment of the Taoiseach's stewardship of these issues. The Secretary General said the circle cannot be squared.

The national development plan is becoming a fiction. The Secretary General said the Government would need €345 million for the children's hospital in the next two years and a further €1 billion for the broadband plan. The circle cannot be squared. We need some honesty in terms of the budgetary framework. Is it not the case that the Government cannot produce the hundreds of millions of euro that would be required to go anywhere near the Taoiseach's tax pledge, made more than a year ago, and still meet the housing and homelessness crisis as well as the health crisis?

See this speech in context