Pearse Doherty (Sinn Fein)

Gabhaim buíochas leis an tSeanadóir Quinn as ucht a chuid ama a roinnt liom sa díospóireacht seo. Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire fosta.

There is no doubt but that the impact of the economic slowdown and the rising cost of living are beginning to be felt by people across the State. Many of those who borrowed heavily when house prices were at their highest face an uncertain future due to a decline in house values and high mortgage interest rates. Low-paid workers are struggling in the face of rising food and fuel prices while, at the same time, there is downward pressure on their wages.

How should the Government have prepared for the challenges we are now facing? It should have planned ahead based on a realistic assessment of economic vulnerability. It should then have taken pre-emptive action to ensure the impact of any slowdown, domestic or international, would be minimised. The vulnerabilities in the Irish economy were quite clear for many years and were highlighted by my party and economic commentators. These included over-reliance on the construction sector and an over-inflated property sector; the failure to deliver key transport and telecommunications infrastructure, including broadband, in a timely matter; the fact that growth in recent years was driven by domestic consumption rather than exports; and the fact that the level of worker participation in education, training and upskilling in the State was well below that required, and the norms in other European states.

All these factors should have informed a Government strategy and put the economy on a sustainable footing. There was also a drip of job losses in manufacturing in regional towns that was not met with any action to create alternative employment. I know this only too well coming from the north west, Donegal in particular. The Government has failed to take on board the slowdown in economic growth projected by economic analysts and the reliance of the Exchequer on revenue from construction and property warned about by the officials in the Department of Finance. It failed to take any action to put the economy on a sustainable footing.

The Government must now tackle issues such as the growing number of unemployed, the rising cost of living, the dangers of negative equity, rising mortgage interest rates and the fact that tax revenue is well below projections. Sinn Féin is calling for a concerted effort to retrain and upskill low-skilled and vulnerable workers. We call for a focus on creating jobs in regional towns hit badly by job losses, including through increased support for indigenous enterprise. We want the Government to focus on regaining competitiveness. Where Government policies, including the raft of stealth taxes and charges, contribute to increasing the cost of living, they need to be re-examined. Proposed tax cuts, which are clearly unviable and would undermine the State's ability to fund public services, should be dropped. There needs to be a focus on increasing exports, particularly to other EU states, such that exporters will not face the uncertainties associated with exchange rates that they face when exporting to Britain and the USA.

There is merit in the proposal to cut the period, from six months to three, before which FÁS meets with new unemployment welfare claimants to find alternative employment or training opportunities. However, I do not agree with the Fine Gael proposers of the motion that further changes to stamp duty represent an appropriate response to the issues facing the housing market. We would be better concentrating on coming up with measures to assist those on low and middle incomes faced with negative equity and rising mortgage interests rates. While I agree that ministerial pay rises are unwarranted and should be abandoned, we must ensure they are not used as the basis for demanding that those on low incomes under severe pressure from increases in the cost of living should be forced to accept pay freezes.

The Government, including the Minister, faces great challenges and I hope it can meet them face-on. There needs to be a special case made for the north west. I have called many times in the Seanad for it to be designated as an area of economic need. I ask that the new Minister for Finance take my points on board.