Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)

I can tell Senator O'Malley that the people are waiting. Former Taoiseach, the late Charles J. Haughey, once said of a Fine Gael/Labour budget that it was a cold calculated computer print out, and I say this is part two. This is a budget that attempts to tackle a broken economy but fails miserably. It is devoid of humanity and is lacking compassion and understanding of the modern Irish family. There is no appreciation whatsoever of families and young people who have been forced to buy houses, as Senator Prendergast stated, at inflated prices and who are stuck with mortgages. The Bill does not take cognisance of the fact that today's Irish families are struggling. I challenge the Members on the Government benches to come to any of the four corners of this country to see that it is not the rich who are struggling. Everybody in middle-income and low-income Ireland is struggling.

Senator Prendergast is correct in stating there is no account taken whatever of the different spending requirements of families and individuals. This is best exemplified by the fact that Ministers took a percentage decrease in their salaries but that was it. They have the entourage with them always and they have the all the different apparatus of State around them, and it sends the wrong message. Senators and Deputies should not receive ministerial pensions along with their salaries. It is wrong. The Minister and I were in the same position on our teaching salaries, where we did not take the money for those jobs. That provision is wrong and should not apply. One should forget about the journalists who are trying to drive this campaign. We did not take it, not because of a journalist but because we felt it was wrong. We need leadership in this House.

People are distressed and upset. This is not make-up and it is not populism. The Irish people are looking for change and inspiration and it is no wonder the political class is getting it in the neck because we have not seen leadership. There was a botched attempt at a budget last month. The Minister for Finance outlined the measure in the House and three weeks later it is changed. One cannot blame the people for being angry.

The golden egg is rotten. It is no more. As the Minister will be aware, we go out knocking on doors every night and the people say they have bailed out the banks, bailed out the Government and the Government has let them down. I am out four days a week talking to people and knocking on doors and that is what they are telling us. That is a fact. They feel let down and they read in the newspapers where developers do not turn up in court to pay their debts. What are we saying to people?

Undoubtedly, this debate is taking place in difficult times. As the Minister will be aware, people are on social welfare for a reason. Thousands of them do not want to be on social welfare. The ESRI report today shows we are in big trouble, much of it of our own making due to over reliance on construction and property. Unemployment is at 11.84% and the ESRI is predicting 17%. With 17% of our workforce unemployed, forget about what former Taoiseach, the late Jack Lynch, said about 100,000. Look at the 17% as people devoid of work, devoid of hope and looking for help. Are we real in this House at all? We are talking about people.

On a positive note, there is a willingness among people to take some pain. They will take some pain but they have been asked to take a great deal. As the Minister will be aware, there is significant pressure on the staff in social welfare offices and I thank them for doing great work dealing with an inordinate amount of people. They do not get credit.