Paul Bradford (Fine Gael)

I am glad to have the opportunity to speak in this very important debate. We have had several discussions on budgetary policy, on the economy and on the state of the country in recent months and I hope on each and every one of those occasions I spoke in a positive fashion. I outlined my hope and my desire to see the Government bringing in a financial statement or a budget that would work for the country, put people back to work, create incentives and grow the economy. Sadly, the events of Tuesday, from an economic, political and social perspective, were entirely depressing. I hope my track record of being reasonable in this House will cause my colleagues on the other side to realise that when I say I found the events of Tuesday depressing in every respect, those words are genuine.

We spoke some weeks ago about the vacuum in ideas and in policy. I hoped the vacuum would be filled by the Minister for Finance last Tuesday. Instead, we had a return to the type of economic policy which failed Ireland in the 1970s, the 1980s and which will absolutely fail Ireland again, the policy of high rates of taxation, levies and charges. It has been said that no country has taxed its way out of recession and sadly, I do not believe we will be any different.

I summarise my comments on this budget by saying that at the very core of it there is absence of hope. The Irish people have listened to economic debates for months. Every citizen understands the perilous plight of the economy. Last Tuesday, every person hoped for leadership but above all, for hope. However, there was no hope in the core of the Minister's speech, in his words or in the policy behind his tax and spend proposals. I am very worried that we will be back here in six months time and in 12 months time when the situation has gone from bad to worse, when job losses will have significantly increased, when anger on the streets will be demonstrated by thousands of unemployed people.

I spoke about my fear of marches. Public sector workers and their supporters marched some weeks ago. I have no difficulty with people presenting their point of view but that march was led by and included people who at least had jobs to go back to the following Monday. The next time we see a march in O'Connell Street it will be people without jobs and without hope and with no confidence in the future. That will be a very dangerous and destabilising situation. This is the reason the Minister needed to demonstrate hope, courage and conviction and to announce a plan in which people could have confidence. No fair-minded person, including the Members on the Government side, can believe that what happened on Tuesday will turn the ship of state around from its present perilous journey. As expected to some degree, it will result in every taxpayer paying more tax and in every Government programme being pared. Sadly, the fundamental problems of the economy were not addressed. We have lost competitiveness.

The Minister was brave enough and man enough to concede some weeks ago that his decision to increase the rate of VAT was wrong. We presumed, at a minimum, that he would reverse what he conceded was a wrong decision but he did not reverse it. We are shutting down retail Ireland. Small shops, big shops, corner shops, high street shops, literally have no future. There was a possibility on Tuesday to reverse out of that route to disaster and despair but we did not do so. I find this quite amazing.

What has been done to make Irish industry competitive again? What has been done about energy charges, fixed charges, levies, rates, local authority water charges? Absolutely nothing. We are simply reverting to the formula used — admittedly by virtually every political party in this State — from the late 1970s to the late 1980s, of trying to tax our way out of a problem. It did not work then and it will not work now. It will put people out of work rather than creating jobs. This is an absolute disaster for this country.

I look across my constituency where on a daily basis people are losing jobs. I note the industry physically closest to my constituency, agriculture, where as late as yesterday, 70 or 80 more workers in a meat plant in Midleton lost their jobs with sadly another 70 or 80 to follow perhaps. I looked through the Budget Statement to see what it planned to do for agriculture, whether it would generate any confidence among rural people, whether it would facilitate rural people to invest in agriculture but the answer is "No". I look at tourism across the county of Cork, east Cork in particular. I ask will this budget attract any additional tourists into Ireland or generate additional tourist activity across the country and again the answer is "No". I appreciate the problems I highlight are not easily resolved and I appreciate there is only so much money available. However, the elephant in the room last Tuesday is the elephant that was in the room last month or last year or the year before, namely, the cost of running the country, the cost of the public sector.

Fine Gael was criticised by some as being on a campaign against the public sector but nothing could be further from the truth. I assure the Minister of State that the party which founded this State, my party, and the party which founded the Civil Service and the public sector, my party, will always have the highest regard for the public sector. We also hold the taxpayer, who funds the public sector, in high esteem and we wish to ensure that value for money is received. The most interesting paragraph in the Minister's speech on Tuesday last was his reference to the question of where the money goes, which we should all take on board. If I am correct, the figures he provided were €21 billion for social welfare, €20 billion on the public sector, €15 billion on day-to-day services and €7 billion for investment this year. The equation simply cannot continue. It cannot endure that €41 billion out of somewhat more than €60 billion is spent on the public sector and social welfare payments, with only €22 billion left over for other projects including running Ireland Limited. Within that equation lies both the problem and the solution. The challenge for us is to be brave enough to face up to the solutions required.

I wish we could believe as the late, former Taoiseach, Mr. Charles Haughey, believed in the 1970s that we could simply employ more and more people in the public service and somehow there would be a magic solution. To some extent Fine Gael in the 1980s continued to believe in that policy. As several courageous politicians, including the father of Senator O'Malley, proscribed and recognised, that formula did not work then, could not work now and will not work in future. We must seriously examine value for money in the public sector and ensure every euro spent, which is not the Government's but taxpayers' money, produces value for money

To an extent, I am pleased the partnership talks have resumed, because it will bring back to the table the groups and organisations which have been at the very core of policymaking decisions in the past 20 years, some of which were good and some of which were bad. I get somewhat annoyed when I hear certain union leaders and the leaders of other groups in society state categorically they are not part of the problem and so should not be part of the solution. All the groups which sat around the partnership table and talks, which excluded the vast majority of Members of the Oireachtas, were those responsible for the decisions taken in the past 15 to 20 years. I hope they will be a part of the solution and will face up to the brutal reality of the erroneous policies implemented and will now show a willingness to reverse course.

I express my genuine, deep despondency at this budget, which will remove spending from the economy, cost jobs and kill hope. I hope I am wrong, but I fear I will not be in this regard.