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

We acknowledge that. This is because the Government cannot cover everything. There have been two years where the Government has invested to an unprecedented extent into our economy. It was unprecedented that the Government would underpin what had to be done. It was right that we did it because of the pandemic. However, this cannot go on forever; we cannot continue to fund every enterprise in the country through the employment wage subsidy scheme, EWSS, or the Covid restrictions support scheme, CRSS, forever. That was never on anyone's agenda. The object was to get through the pandemic and keep companies viable, keep enterprises viable and keep jobs intact. We took this action in order that when we come out of the pandemic, businesses can get back up and running and jobs can be retained. Through the pandemic unemployment payment, PUP, we wanted to enable people to get through the pandemic. However, there certainly seems to be a view that the Government can be the bank of last resort for everything in the country. It just simply cannot be. We need balance here.

There is a significant State involvement in the economy. There is no question about that. We have a strong social protection system, which is funded by taxation. If you take away the revenue base, then you undermine the raison d'êtreof our social protection system, which is a strong one. It can be improved, and we can target it more. We will continue to do that in the next budget, as we did in the last budget, particularly for families and for those who are on low incomes.

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