Michael Finucane (Fine Gael)

Much thought was given to consultants' advice regarding these projects. The Government said it was taking action to ensure that in future this aspect was covered. It is surprising to note that €60 million is to be spent next year on consultants, which is an increase of €1.5 million and this is on top of €50 million expended in recent times on a health board project which was signed for at the end of last April. I often wonder why Departments do not expend sufficient energy in producing reports rather than hiring outside consultants. I will repeat what I said many years ago that it is the easiest thing in the world to employ a consultant but in many cases the expertise exists within the Civil Service. I am sure the Department of Finance has many professional staff who could undertake that work.

Senator Quinn's remarks are quite valid. The building industry accounts for 40% of the total jobs available in this country. A total of 30,000 jobs have been lost in industry over the past three years. A significant number of extra jobs have been created in the services, including the hospitality, education and health sectors. The building industry can be a fickle business and in many cases it is supported by capital mechanisms from Government in order to sustain it. However, it may not be sustainable in the future and the loss of manufacturing jobs is damaging to the economy. The last overseas industry I remember coming to west Limerick was a manufacturer of bicycle helmets who came in 1991 and is now gone. This situation has parallels all over the country. Ireland is not attracting overseas industries and this may be a question of our competitiveness. This, plus the fickle nature of the construction industry could be a recipe for financial difficulties in the future and a lack of buoyancy in jobs.

The Minister of State will be familiar with the situation regarding local authorities, which is very wrong. In 1983, 63% of all local government funding came from the central Exchequer and this has dropped to a current figure of approximately 42%. The local authorities have expanded considerably in the intervening period. They have taken on many extra duties. Ratepayers will always be the soft touch when it comes to the preparation of estimates by local authorities. A total of 25% of the financing of local authorities comes from the rate payers who find it very tiresome that when the local authorities come to balancing the books, due cognisance is not taken of the consumer price index. It is a question of by what percentage can the rates be increased. There has been a significant increase in the rates over time.

The actions of the local authorities can often reduce the amount of revenue received from rate payers. For instance, if a decision is made to paint double yellow lines outside business premises in Abbeyfeale and Newcastlewest, this reduces the income of those businesses. The business community is tiring of this policy. Not alone must they pay commercial rates but they must also pay water charges. The chambers of commerce published a document recently in which the increases in water charges and rates between 2000 and 2004 were analysed. The results were frightening with regard to the scale of the overall charges.

My party has referred to stealth taxes on many occasions and people are tired of such taxes. Electricity charges have increased by 40% over the past few years and there have been increases in gas and other charges. This is straining people's pockets.

One of the central planks of Government policy in 2002 was a promise that 80% of those on the higher tax rate of 42% would be paying tax at the lower rate by 2007. So far, 67% of those people are paying the lower tax rate. It may be the Government's objective to achieve those targets over the next two budgets.

In 2002, the then Minister for Finance, Charlie McCreevy, promised there would be 5,000 fewer people employed in the public service. I do not know whether Departments do some crystal ball gazing to see what numbers of staff they will need in the future in health, education and other areas such as the Garda Síochána. It is very difficult to reconcile this with the news that the public service currently has 14,000 extra staff. Those projections are not valid. They were used as a comfort zone in 2002 by the Government but it will not happen.

People are no longer prepared to be conned and duped. Many people have said to me recently that this Government has wasted a lot of money and they are right. The Celtic tiger has caused a quadrupling of revenue in four years. The Government has frittered it away over the past eight years and we are not getting a better public service. The Government stands indicted on this issue.