Liam Twomey (Fine Gael)

I am especially disappointed in that regard. The Minister of State failed to admit the Government's mistakes in leading us into this crisis. In 2007, when the then Taoiseach, Deputy Bertie Ahern, and the current Taoiseach, Deputy Brian Cowen, were re-elected, the people were in debt to the tune of approximately €100 billion, the Government debt was approximately €40 billion and the deficit was running at approximately €1 billion or €2 billion, so the nation's debt was approximately €140 billion.

Fast forward two years when the property bubble has burst, there is an international crisis and public finances are clearly out of kilter with what is happening in Government, where do we stand? The ordinary man and woman on the street are still in debt to the tune of approximately €100 billion. Government debt is up to €70 billion. We have bailed out the banks at a cost of some €10 billion. We have purchased an array of junk bonds - essentially junk loans - for the National Asset Management Agency, NAMA, which will cost between €60 billion and €70 billion. In the two years since the previous general election, national debt has grown from €140 billion to almost €250 billion, an increase of more than €100 billion.

If that were the end of the story, we might be able to get the situation under control. However, it is clear the Government needs to borrow €20 billion per year to keep going for the foreseeable future. The State is essentially bankrupt. The situation is worse than it ever was in the 1980s. An examination of changes in gross domestic product, GDP, make this clear. GDP has contracted by 10% this year, which means the nation's debt is massive.

Will the Minister of State provide information on how these debts are structured and how much it will cost to service them in the coming years? There will be a significant impact on our ability to improve the economic situation if we are paying billions to manage debt we have taken on in recent years and will take on in the coming years at a time when our economy is contracting. We must bring the situation under control quickly.

The private sector is attempting to improve competitiveness by reducing its costs. However, in the midst of the current financial crisis, day-to-day Government spending is increasing. If this continues, we are destined to endure chronic long-term unemployment. The failure of the Government to recognise or acknowledge that it has led us into this mess and its failure to change its policies to suit the new environment means we are destined to see the situation deteriorate. The green shoots to which the Minister of State referred are relevant to other economies. They will not affect our economy for the foreseeable future because we are not dealing with our problems.

The question that arises after the local and European elections and by-elections is whether we need a general election. I contend we do. The senior Ministers in the current Government have been in power for most of the past 20 years. They have neutered the Houses of the Oireachtas in their role as representative of the will of the people. They have transferred all the power to themselves and have taken all the credit for every positive development in recent years. When a Government takes that approach, it must take responsibility for failure. The public is angry with the Government because it feels isolated and disconnected from politics. Government Members have claimed since the weekend that they have incurred the wrath of the electorate because of the difficult decisions they had to make. That is not the case. They incurred the wrath of the people because they led them into this mess and seem set to prolong it into the future.

The Government has effectively destroyed the economy in recent years. In doing so, it has destroyed the future of many people. Losing one's job is often a person's worst possible scenario. Moreover, many such are also coping with substantial levels of personal indebtedness, thus making their quality of life even worse. Many people are carrying large mortgages. In County Wexford, for example, people who bought houses for €250,000 or €300,000 now find they are worth only €150,000 to €160,000, if they could manage to sell them. Young people in this situation, who have lost their jobs or are paying increased taxes and levies, especially those working in the public service, are stuck with these properties. There is no NAMA to bail young people out of the mess they are in. Instead, the Government is binding them to their problems by extracting even more money from them.

That is why voters throughout the commuter belt and in urban areas in particular, as well as those in County Wexford and elsewhere, expressed such anger towards the Government in the elections. Its policies have made their homes almost worthless and damaged their standard of living. There is no acknowledgement from the Government of the suffering endured by so many people as a consequence of the deterioration in their quality of life. The Government talks about making difficult decisions but has yet to reach the point of accepting and apologising for its responsibility in all this. That is why the public is so angry.

Services are affected throughout the State by the reduction in Government funding. Management at Waterford Regional Hospital has indicated it will be unable to provide cancer care services because of these cuts. Attempts are being made to downgrade the local hospital in my constituency of Wexford, with the number of beds reduced and plans to close the accident and emergency department. Who knows what other service reductions will be made in future? People are suffering because of the inadequate provision of home help services and home care packages. There will be great misery for those who require State services in the coming years. Again, none of this has been acknowledged by the Government.

Ordinary men and women believe this Government has been in power for too long. The same people who were in power in 1997 are still wandering around Government Buildings.