Frances Fitzgerald (Fine Gael)

This morning on "Morning Ireland", Orla Tinsley, who has fought so hard for services for cystic fibrosis, was asked if she believed and trusted the latest proposal from Government to provide a cystic fibrosis unit. She said "We have had promises made before, I am not sure that I can — but I hope that I can." She and cystic fibrosis sufferers have had many promises made to them that have not been fulfilled. The Minister has now suggested a scheme whereby some builder will lend money to fund that unit and be paid back by the Health Service Executive. That sounds vague and unreliable. It does not sound as if it will produce the unit that is needed.

People watching the budget today will be a little like Orla, they will be asking whether we can trust a Government that has let us down so often in recent years. Can we trust a Government that has wasted so much of our money? What is the Government going to do today? There is a lot of fear, anger and upset in people for themselves, their families and their future, especially among the tens of thousands of people who have lost their job in recent weeks and months with hundreds more losing them every day. Today, we in Fine Gael will be looking at the budget to see whether it will protect and hold the jobs we have, create jobs and deal with the competitiveness issues that are essential if we are to keep our jobs. We will also be looking for fairness. We will further be saying that the Taoiseach is codding the public if he thinks he can tax his way back to recovery. We will be looking for reform and savings. We want serious reform so the country will be competitive again and people can plan for their families and themselves with some hope for the future. We will have further debate on the budget tomorrow but, as I stated, we will be watching very carefully. We will be supportive where the budget deserves support but we will certainly be critical where it fails to meet criteria we have set, published and made very clear in recent weeks.