Paddy Burke (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Mansergh. In effect, it is a budgetary Bill but it has been transferred into legislation as an emergency measure.

Much has been said about competitiveness by various speakers. As a nation we have lost our competitiveness. This side of the House has been saying that for a number of years. The Government side laughed at Deputy Kenny when he objected to benchmarking in its original format. What has happened in that regard is that the vast majority of those public servants have been sucked in and they now find that they have high mortgages, huge credit card debt, big car loans and their wages have been slashed. In many cases it is a very sad situation both for those involved and their families. That is the reality. We did not look closely enough at benchmarking at the time. It was a measure designed to win a general election.

Prior to the recent budget the Government looked to all parties for ideas both in the Dáil and in this House. All parties were forthcoming with ideas. The Fine Gael Party put forward various ideas and designed stimulus packages. The party's NewERA document proposed the creation of 100,000 jobs, new semi-State bodies and the sale of existing semi-State bodies. The Government did not take a single idea from any of the Opposition parties. It looked for them in several debates prior to the budget but it did not take on board a single idea from any one party. One could wonder why. The Government came up with a budget that was all about cutting wages and public services without introducing a stimulus package.

I wish to ask the Minister of State questions about training. The social welfare budget has been savage enough and will have a serious effect on the lives of some families on social welfare. FÁS is to get an extra €70 million for training grants. At the same time, the Government, through Teagasc, is closing one of the few agricultural colleges left in this country and some Teagasc offices, including one in my town of Castlebar. The biggest disappointment is the closure of Mountbellew agricultural college. It never had as many students as is currently the case but it is proposed to close it from 1 June next year. I cannot understand such a decision being taken by the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, the Minister for Finance and the Government for the sake of a measly amount of money when at the same time they intend to give extra money to FÁS, which has a largely discredited board, for it to introduce new incentives. In spite of the fact that some of its schemes were proven to be a sham, it is being invited to create new training schemes. In contrast, an agricultural college that existed for years is being closed. It has never had as many students and is liaising with the institutes of technology to provide some great courses and training for farmers and the agribusiness sector in general. That is something the Minister should take on board.

My colleague, Senator Twomey, raised the issue of excise duty this morning. A number of jobs are at risk due to the effect of excise duty on the drinks industry. The Minister of State said he had been approached himself. Dwan's and Finches in the Minister of State's constituency will be greatly affected.