Paul Bradford (Fine Gael)

Budget Statements during the course of the history of the Republic of Ireland up to 1990 were generally bleak affairs. It was a question of what was the next cutback or tax increase or the next paragraph of bad news. Fortunately, the regeneration of the economy and the boom and gloom years of the Celtic tiger, for which we are all thankful and for which every political party can claim a small degree of credit, means that when we listen to the Minister for Finance outline his financial statement to the House on budget day, people have high expectations. We have had increases in public expenditure across all Departments, generous reductions in taxation and an economy on the up.

An interesting factor during the course of the previous general election was that in one sense the economy never became part of the debate, at least not until very late in the day. There was the view among many commentators which eventually the electorate accepted that the outgoing Government, especially the major party, Fianna Fáil, had some magic formula for economic growth which other parties did not seem to share. There was the view that only Fianna Fáil in Government could keep the good times rolling. I wish it were so simple. We have seen in the past two to three months with external factors that when the harsh winds of economic storms hit us, it does not matter who is in charge of Government because tough decisions have to be taken. Probably for the first time in ten or 12 years the Minister for Finance faces touch choices and the Budget Statement will not be the rosy picture it has been in recent years.

I wish to refer to a few of the issues I hope the Minister of State will take on board. The competitiveness of the economy, which we discussed in the House recently in the context of job creation across the regions, is a major issue. I listened to my colleague, Senator Donohoe, speak about competitors, especially Estonia, Poland and other countries in eastern Europe, which offer all manner of incentives for investment. Firms which might have looked to Ireland five or ten years ago are looking at other options for investment. We must ensure our competitiveness is as good as that of those other economies. Unfortunately, inflation in Ireland has increased in the past three to four years and is at the wrong end of the European scale. No doubt energy costs have played a major role in that. There is no light at the end of the tunnel in regard to oil and electricity prices.

The party of which the Minister of State is a member makes great play of green energy. Everybody supports the concept but we will need more than words — we need action. The previous speaker mentioned wind farms which are another alternative source of energy. We must redouble our efforts to make real progress in the generation of electricity from natural resources and in keeping down energy costs if Irish industry is to prosper.

While our education service is of the highest international standard, we need to improve it further. Without rehearsing everything that Senator Pascal Donohoe said, he referred to the amount of retraining necessary. The biggest political decision to impact on the development of the country was the decision in the 1960s to introduce free second level education, which gave everybody the opportunity to increase their qualifications and to enhance their future prospects. Having made second level education accessible to every child 40 years ago, we must now ensure every second level student not only goes on to complete second level education, but also obtains a place in a third level college or institute.

A fortnight ago we heard figures mentioned here, I believe by Senator Doherty, indicating that in one county, County Donegal, a significant number of second level students were not completing second level education. We must ensure that is the exception rather than the rule. I hope the budget, through its spending parameters, will ensure access to third level education will improve. We will not be able to compete with countries not just in eastern Europe but also in China, India and other Asian countries from a wage perspective. However, we can certainly compete from the point of view of training, skills and education which will require major investment.

I refer to our road and rail infrastructure. The Transport 21 plan has very lofty ambitions, which we all share. We seem to be very slow at implementing these plans. Without wanting to be entirely parochial, two roads of major economic importance to the north Cork region — the Mallow to Mitchelstown road and the Mallow to Fermoy road — have been on everybody's list of priorities for the past 40 to 50 years and yet have not received the attention or investment required. There have been 2,000 to 3,000 job losses in the past five or six years. We cannot encourage industrial investment in regions such as north Cork and towns such as Mallow, Mitchelstown and Fermoy, with second-rate roads. Bizarrely those two roads are not on the Transport 21 map for road investment. For the umpteenth time I ask the Minister of State to point out to the Minister for Transport the urgent need for investment in those roads.

The Minister of State, Deputy Sargent's, party would be supportive of the rail network. While everybody is in favour of the Cork to Midleton railway line and the extension to Youghal, for which plans are in place, we are not seeing the required progress. The development of our rail service is very cost effective by comparison with road projects. However, it requires serious political attention and I hope the Minister of State will advocate more investment in our rail infrastructure, which is key to the infrastructure base the country requires.

While I presume the budgetary options on taxation are limited, it is important not to fall into the trap into which we fell in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s of increasing taxation in a crisis. We need to keep all levels of personal and corporate taxation as low as possible. The formula has worked, not just in Ireland, but also across the globe. The reverse is also true in that increases in taxation penalise the public and industry and result in economic slowdown. I hope the Minister will not propose any level of taxation increase.

I look forward to improved social welfare provisions for the less well-off in society. Last week saw the "People In Need Telethon" on RTE, which is very laudable. I congratulate everybody who participates in such a programme and contributes. In the Ireland of 2007 we should not need such programmes to address the needs of the poor and marginalised. We still have a booming economy with a significant budget available to us. We should ensure our social welfare provisions look after the real people in need who should not be dependent on charity groups alone. That is the responsibility of the Minister for Social and Family Affairs and the Minister for Finance. I hope the Budget Statement will bring meaningful progress in that regard.