Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to have an opportunity to speak on this budget. I have spoken on a number of budgets over the years and have seen speeches from the Government and from the Opposition. There is a certain similarity. Mr. Denis Reid, a former employee of the Houses of the Oireachtas, used to advise as to what the various spokespersons would say and predict it in advance. Normally, from the Opposition it would be "Too little, too late" or "Opportunities missed". I am sure he is smiling as he looks at these debates.

I do not propose to go over the budget in detail other than to simply say it is a good budget. It touches the right spots. There are issues that still must be dealt with and there will be issues that must be dealt with. We cannot deal with them all at the one time. However, I must remind people of something. This is not personally targeted at the Opposition. They are nice people and I know they mean well but I must remind them they are erring in their ways at this stage. It is simply this: we hear on a regular basis that Fine Gael has been in government for ten years. What has it done? Why has it not done something about these things? Why has it not solved them? I will tell the House why, for those who have a short memory. It is true Fine Gael has been in government for ten years, but not in power. The first seven of those ten years were spent trying to find money to pay the day-to-day requirements of the Government, that is, the current expenditure. After the 2011 general election, the Taoiseach of the day had to go across the globe with begging bowl in hand, calling on various people, including Bill Clinton and everybody else in order to encourage people to come to this country, show an interest in it, invest in it and think of how good we were and how good we would be in the future. At that time, we heard various spokespersons, both inside and outside the House, predict Ireland would have to default on its debts. We had no credit rating anywhere. Nobody wanted to lend money to us except at a very high interest rate. We were then told by various other experts outside the House that not only that, but we would have to have a second bailout. Does the House remember that? It was common knowledge we would have to have a second bailout.

When the then Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan, and his colleague, the then Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Brendan Howlin, predicted that Ireland would get out of the programme much earlier than anticipated, people said it was rubbish, nonsense and palaver coming from the Government side. It was not, because we did. What they had to do then, their parties, Fine Gael and Labour, have paid for since. There was a lot of heavy lifting to be done. Many things had to be done standing up. Some parties not present in the House at the moment actually left this country to advise other countries, including Spain, Portugal, Italy, Iceland and Greece, but, fortunately, they did not take on board the advice they were given. Maybe Venezuela did, and we know where that country is now.

We must differentiate between reality and fiction and acknowledge that we are in a far better place than we were. The three parties in government were in a position to produce a budget that is good and stable. It will create stability in the future. It does not give anything away and serves to remind us that there are inflationary tendencies, which we must recognise. We need to be careful in terms of what we do from here on in. Otherwise, we could find ourselves back in that old spot, looking around and wondering where we are going to go next. It is common for members of the Opposition to say that if they were in government they would do an awful lot better. It is easy to fantasise. It is like the guy sitting outside the boxing ring talking about what he would do if he was in there. Unfortunately, when some of the guys get in there, they make a quick exit. I am not a great boxing fan but I can cite quite a number of cases that ended up in disaster.

I want to warn against making promises, perhaps with the best of intentions, which could lead this country into disaster. If we go down that road, we are going to a very dangerous and lonely place and nobody will come to our aid the next time. Nobody will offer to assist us the next time. It will be on ourselves and we can depend on all the sages and wise people that we want, on all of the people who quote various economists and so on who tell us to listen to what they have to say and we will have no fear. All I have to say about that is that I am long enough around to have seen it all. When we see so much of it over a period of time and see the things that have happened and the things that should not have happened even though the writing was on the wall, then it is good for us to think and make sure that we do not allow these things to happen again. That is what I have to say in general.

Points have been made by colleagues in respect of climate, an issue with which we must deal. Several years ago, I suggested that there would be a serious campaign to develop renewable energy, particularly wind energy. It did not happen at that time and it has not happened yet. It certainly has not happened to the extent required, which is the real problem, but I hope it will. I am looking forward to it and I hope it will happen. There were wild predictions from people who told me at the time that I was ridiculous and stupid, that I did not know what I was talking about and that they knew better. They did not know better and events have since proven it.

As previous speakers stated, there is one thing we can boast about in the context of climate change. On our current carbon footprint, we provide food for almost 50 million people. This does not happen anywhere else across the globe, and it cannot happen. It is due to our climate and our grass-based production of beef and dairy, and we should be given credit for that. Importing peat moss and peat products from other European countries does not make sense. It is very hard to tell our farmers and those in the horticulture sector that this is in accordance with international policy. It is not; it is a pretence to ourselves that we are making a major inroad in that area. We have a lot more to do in that area and we can do it but we must invest now. We must spend money now on providing for renewable energy in the future. We must do that now and while we are doing so to the best of our ability, it must be followed by more and more investment.

A Member from the other side of the House said that the Government had choices. That is right. The Government did have choices and it chose stability and looking after the people as best it could in the circumstances. When Fine Gael went into government in 2011, it had no choices. There was nothing from anywhere or any quarter. There was nothing but misery. When the Cabinet door closed with a clang, the only thing that could be heard was ominous silence and the threat that the future carried. It took a lot to stand up to that and provide for it but at least we were able to come through the economic crisis, Covid and Brexit. We still have more to do. As someone once said, a lot done but more to do.

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