Ciarán Cannon (Progressive Democrats)

Nobody can deny that this is the last chance saloon and the upcoming budget is our last opportunity to turn the ship around. We are looking at the embers of the economic success that roared through the country during the past ten or 15 years. However, some flames are still lingering. Other commentators describe them as green shoots. The budget will either utterly extinguish those flames or gently fan them back into the type of success we achieved in the past. That is how important this is.

In January, the Minister for Finance, Deputy Brian Lenihan, stated we would not have further tax hikes or another budget and that spending cutbacks would be implemented on the advice of an bord snip. In recent days and weeks there has been much speculation that we will have significant tax hikes. This is despite the introduction of 17 new taxes and increased revenue of more than €2 billion in the original budget of 14 October. We seem to think that we can tax our way out of this recession. That is a sadly mistaken and a seriously damaging view.

What if the Cabinet was the board of directors of a major retail operation? Last Friday's monthly sales statistics from the CSO show that on average overall volumes are down a record 20% over the past year and our tax revenue has dropped similarly. My wife and I own a pub in County Galway and we are experiencing a drop in revenue and an increase in costs. We would not increase the price of a pint, we would cut it. We would promote special offers and manage our cash flow. That is what the Government needs to do.

Any tax rise would be a serious mistake. All it would achieve is to make working and the employment of workers an increasingly unattractive option. Why would any Government deliberately push us towards further unemployment? Very innovative tax raising measures can be introduced but, ultimately, the only way forward is through serious and far-reaching reform and availing of the major savings that reform can bring.

We need to bring realism to our capital programme and concentrate our spending on areas that will deliver and bring real benefits to society. Is it sustainable to propose to spend well over €5,000 million on a Ceaucescu-like metro north when a tiny fraction of that amount could provide a state-of-the-art bus service on proper quality bus corridors, with buses departing from Dublin Airport every five minutes to go to the city? Is it sustainable to continue to spend €53 million per annum on renting school prefabs when the money would more than cover the annual cost of servicing a mortgage on permanent buildings? Imagine the jobs and the revenue that could be created from such a comprehensive building programme.

This week, we saw details confirming that the top 50 earners in Ireland's third level institutions receive a pay-out of more than €10 million annually. These professors, university presidents and directors are on very large salaries with a minimum of lecturing hours. In addressing the issue of third level funding surely this is one area that needs major scrutiny.

Will the Minister of State, Deputy Devins, take a message to the Taoiseach who, in past times, deservedly earned himself a reputation as a serious performer in any public domain? We saw snippets of this during his visit to the United States and in his recent contribution to a chamber of commerce meeting. I and many people wonder why he has not chosen to speak openly to the people of the country in not one but a number of state of the nation addresses. These are unprecedented times and we need to take unprecedented action. A contribution to a Fianna Fáil Ard-Fheis and to a chamber of commerce is not communicating with the people who matter most, namely, the hard working taxpayers who go out every morning in an effort to keep this country afloat.

How can one expect any of our people to row in behind a strategy and the very difficult decisions we must make as a nation when they are running blind with no information and no apparent strategy? The Taoiseach needs to communicate and to bring the people that he serves into his confidence. I know he has the ability to do so. If he does that it will be the first very important step in finding our way back to the success we are more than capable of creating.