Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

Usually Senator Norris is not short in stating what he wishes to state. It is fine that Senator Norris wishes to speak when I speak if it is an intellectual exercise for him. It is not my idea of coming here to debate an issue.

The point is that the Taoiseach and I were in full agreement in response to an irresponsible initiative brought forward by Fine Gael, which was changed within weeks, adopted by the Labour Party and changed subsequently as a joint proposal when entering an election campaign.

I also made the point it is totally irresponsible and a lesson to be learned is not to get engaged in this type of activity outside of a budgetary context precisely for the reason some Members gave. What would have happened after I brought forward the mortgage interest relief proposal last December which intended to extend the benefits to the greatest number possible? It is available for the first seven years for all mortgage holders. If one is in year four, one receives the increased benefit prospectively from the date the change is made for the remaining three years. If one enters the market now one receives the prospective benefit for the next seven years. It is not a backdated proposal. It is an application of new thresholds of mortgage interest relief in respect of a timeframe of seven years available to all mortgage holders if they qualify for the relief as first-time buyers.

I responded to this matter on the basis that I do not believe it was equitable that €600 million of tax expenditure should go to this purpose. Apart from my belief that it would not solve the problem, I find it inequitable in the extreme. I made the following point clearly however people wish to interpret it. I cannot speculate. I made three simple statements. I stated I would do nothing to disrupt the market. This does not mean I would do nothing. In respect of this or any other issue, what the Minister for Finance does depends on the market conditions at any time.

I also stated I would discriminate in favour of first-time buyers and I stated that if people wished to see what I would do they should examine what I did in two of my previous budgets. I do not think it is possible for a Minister of Finance, maintaining the responsibility he has and the sentiment he sends to the market, to be any more explicit than this. I do not accept Senator Norris's statement that I had a slightly ambivalent attitude. At all times I proposed the need to avoid an electioneering exercise which would disrupt the market and have the effect of putting at risk many of the 280,000 people whose families depend on a stable housing market for a working wage.

During times of slump, a cohort of people had to leave this jurisdiction and work and live in other countries to send home a working wage to their families left behind.That was the experience of many building workers' families here for far too long.

Mindful of my responsibilities in this matter I brought clarity to the situation. To develop the point I was making before I was interrupted, if I was seeking to be popular with a scattered approach everyone would be in a piece of the action. I did not do that. I brought forward a carefully calibrated proposal which discriminated in favour of the one cohort of people who have not benefited from increased equity in the property market, therefore meeting the equity requirement. I did so in a way which did not bring about cuts or reforms in stamp duty regime or thresholds or moving along the thresholds, which does not meet the affordability argument of €600 million. I simply extended an exemption to a cohort of people who require our help in the context of what has been a historically buoyant property market. It is an approach that is targeted, equitable and affordable. I cannot legislate for the decisions of people who talk about the market or for every decision made by everybody in the interim.

I was not the creator of this situation although I was intent on bringing it to finality and trying to make sure that this dislocation which has taken place, not only because of rising interest rates but because of the particular level of reckless adventurism in which the Opposition has engaged on an economic issue for the purposes of getting votes in the election. It was not of my making but I said to the people that I was putting before them a proposal which is one-seventh the cost, more equitable and does not dissipate tax expenditures all over the place to meet the sentiment of any editorial board, writer or commentator who conducted a continuing and lengthy campaign against my position on this matter. I did not relent or recede because I believe that what I am doing is right in the circumstances, which were not of my making.

I am being asked because of a perverse interpretation of what I said in the budget that I have subsequently engaged in a reform, in which I said I would not engage. I have not done so. What I am doing is seeking to restore stability to a market in a way which minimises disruption and in a way which is geared towards those who require our assistance in the aftermath of the disruption which has happened. It would be irresponsible of me in the discharge of my responsibilities as Minister for Finance if I did not do so but I have acted within parameters which honour equity, affordability and the basic stance I have taken on this matter. I decry the continuing effort by others to engage in this type of speculation outside the budgetary context. It is irresponsible in the extreme and has resulted in some of the casualties referred to. They do not end there.

I will discharge my responsibilities on the basis of a consistent approach and on accurate reflection of the actions I have taken with everybody fully cognisant of the chronology of events which brought us to this point. That is my point of view. That is what I defend. When I announced this proposal, which I put to the Taoiseach and t which he agreed, it was for the purpose of minimising the time lapse between the announcement by me as Minister for Finance of such a proposal and its enactment so that people would know what they were voting for and would get what I said they would be voting for. It arose as a result of a range of circumstances and a debate which was not of my making. Those are the facts.

All of the chitter-chatter and what has passed for political commentary to the contrary suggesting that the Taoiseach and I are at variance is nonsense. One of the strengths of the Government has been and will continue to be the very close relationship that exists between the Taoiseach and the Minister for Finance, which is a precondition for the effectiveness of any Government regardless of its political make-up or colour. Any suggestion to the contrary, while it will get certain comments has no relevance to how I conduct my affairs as a member of the Government nor would anyone here expect it to have.

Those are the facts and the chronology of events. That is what I said then and the context in which I said it. I am explaining the timing of how I proposed the initiative as a result of the work of others. Mine has been a logical consistent position all along. I have said that the timing for which the benefit derives is prospective from the date on which I announced it. There is no retrospection. Had we not had this series of events one could look forward to a budget in December that would enable me to improve mortgage interest relief further, taking account of the interest regime that has developed and considering what we could do for first-time buyers. However, I will not be left carrying the can for the uncertainty that has been created as a result of this ham-fisted and cack-handed effort to get into Government on the basis of a proposal that made no sense from beginning to end.

Those who must carry that can of responsibility are on the Opposition benches today precisely because they underestimated the good sense and discernment of the people who know a nonsensical issue when they see one and whose sense of equity was offended by the scattergun nature of the proposal in terms of its concept and cack-handed execution, which was never going to happen and would have done untold damage. Whatever about the correction that is taking place at the moment and the need for us to restore stability quickly, one can only think about the damage that would be done to the livelihoods of tens and hundreds of thousands of people in the industry were they allowed upon achieving Government, had they been successful, to then implement such a proposal over a three-year period, which basically indicated to everybody in the market that the longer they stayed out the more benign the stamp duty regime would be and therefore why get involved at all. That is what would have brought about the hard landing.