Alex White (Labour)

Next week the Government needs to deal with the crisis in the public finances and address the question of the deficit. I accept that is an urgent matter for it to attend to. We are all being conditioned to expect very serious decisions and very severe measures to be taken next week. I hope that in addition to a budgetary book-balancing accountancy exercise next week, we also have some real proposals — visionary proposals one would hope — from the Government on turning around the economic situation and getting people back to work, which is vital. It is a pity that policy seems to be so dominated across the board by the notion that if we fasten our seat belts and, as it were, keep our heads down and brace ourselves, things will improve internationally and when they do, everything here will be fine again. It is a pity if that is the extent of our policy making in this regard. We have a real opportunity to make decisions in this country about this country rather than simply deciding to sit back and wait in hope for the international crisis to pass.

I agree with what Senator Fitzgerald said about the Government's lamentable lack of serious engagement with the Opposition parties on the exercise that is going on at the moment. We in the Labour Party have had precisely the same problems that Senator Fitzgerald outlined Fine Gael had. That is clearly a decision the Government has made. We cannot change that decision. The Government has indicated that it will make the decisions. Of course it is a matter for the Government to make these decisions. When Government Members talk about engagement with the Opposition, whether on television, in these Houses or elsewhere, it is very difficult to take them seriously when the basic information is not being shared with the Opposition for it to participate meaningfully in this exercise. I characterised it a few weeks ago when the Minister for Finance initially said that he was inviting the Opposition to come forward as being akin to placing a suggestion box at the bottom of the stairs in Leinster House. That is as far as it has gone. It is that absurd. It has not gone any further.

This is further exemplified — Senator Fitzgerald could have made the point because it is a Fine Gael motion — by the Private Members' motion to be taken later today. Once again the Government amendment proposes to delete all words after "Seanad Éireann". Last week some Senators on the Government side said they agreed with some elements of the Fine Gael proposals.