Dan Boyle (Green Party)

Senator Quinn has touched upon some of the more important aspects of what is needed to restore and maintain a successful economy and it is obvious the qualities of confidence and hope are most needed. However, we need to strike a balance. People are wary of false confidence being shown in difficult times. We have had the experience of almost chutzpah during the years of the Celtic tiger when we exaggerated our sense of well-being and wealth. Among the qualities found in the Celtic tiger years was for the first time ever an entrepreneurial belief that did not exist in our previous economic history. One of the dangers of the subsequent negativity is a danger of losing that quality which I am convinced still exists but which needs to be fostered and protected. My colleague, Senator Dearey, is our party spokesman on enterprise. He said on the Order of Business yesterday that the biggest safety net required is income support for owner-managers of small enterprises employing perhaps half a dozen people or fewer and whose own income is being threatened in the current circumstances. If these individuals are not given support then the viability of the business and its employees is at risk.

We live in difficult times and we need to make difficult decisions. The degree of honesty that has been lacking in our political debate is beginning to enter into the process. I refer to the contribution of Senator Paschal Donohoe on today's Order of Business. I also heard Deputy Naughten's contribution in the Lower House in which he talked about how we need to collectively face the current circumstances. We have to give this due consideration. What is important after today's announcements and the decisions dependent on them is the 2011 budget. We thought last year's budget would be the most difficult budget in our history but it has now been replaced by the decisions that need to be made for 2011. We live in politically volatile times. Those of us in political life have a responsibility to speak honestly about the type of decisions that have to be made, not only in the coming budget but in the years to come because they will be difficult decisions. The turbulence of the interest rates in the markets are as a result of uncertainty in our public finances. Never mind the banking situation, the uncertainty exists in our public finances where we are taking in €30 billion in taxation, spending €50 billion and borrowing €20 billion. This is not sustainable in the long term. One of the decisions made today will help international confidence and that is the budgetary framework to be laid out in the coming weeks. This will show how that gap is to be bridged in the next four to five budgets. It is important that this information is put out as quickly as possible. It is also important for the Opposition to be in agreement with those figures and to have an understanding that should there be an election and or a change of Government in the coming years that the budgetary framework will need to be supported by whoever is in power in the coming years in order for the country to recover sufficiently.

Senator Quinn spoke about what is good about this country. We have a relatively high GDP level and demographically the country is well positioned. Despite the increase in the emigration figures in 2009, the population increased by 11,000 last year. We have, therefore, the bones of what is needed for a successful economy in the coming years.

I am conscious of the tone that must be struck. What has been avoided is showing a willingness to make the necessary structural changes. If we are to avoid a recurrence of this situation, it cannot be left to the same people in the same structures with the same way of doing things. While we are reacting to an economic crisis and decisions must be taken to balance the books of the banks, if we do not make the structural changes required and are not prepared to examine the societal and political culture that brought about the crisis, we will only sow the seeds for a recurrence resulting potentially in greater damage. We have a Government which is reeling owing to the decisions that must be taken and a major political party in opposition which is trying its best to be effective and present itself as an alternative Government, while the political benefit is being gained by a party which is saying and doing nothing about the current situation. If we do not have this national conversation about the structures of the country and who is involved in them and how we can communicate with the people, we will be left with the narrative referred to by Senator MacSharry, involving the "The Frontline", "Liveline" and the front page of the Irish Independent. This is not the real Ireland, but it is the perception of so many and will continue to dominate in years to come. Ultimately, that is a failure of politicians collectively. It is not a failure of any particular political party, but it is a failure of political institutions. Unless we are prepared to say the economy has strength and that we have the ability to restore it and can do so in a just and fair manner, the likelihood is that those who will prosper in the years to come will not be individual citizens and the country will not recover to the extent it should but those who would prefer a negative climate to continue, with an economy that cannot recover. That is the challenge we must meet.