Frances Fitzgerald (Fine Gael)

The headlines in the various newspapers today say it all: the Irish Independent "Budget 2011: Double the pain"; and The Irish Times, "€5 billion in spending cuts and tax increases could be on agenda". My question for the Government is why has it taken so long for these figures to emerge. Why has the public not been told the truth because these figures did not just emerge when the Opposition spokespersons went in yesterday? Why has it taken so long for the real state of the public finances to be on the agenda in a real way? The newspapers also state that the Government will have to come clean. I raise this particularly in view of the speech the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Harney, gave this morning, where she stated that €600 million would have to be cut from the health budget.