Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)

I meant as an adviser. To paraphrase the bible, shouts of glee will go up with trumpet blasts when the Taoiseach calls time on this Government. Ireland's current economic position has been greeted with amazement and incredulity abroad. Friends of mine from across the world have e-mailed me wondering if we will be okay in this crisis. It is hard when one sees a great nation reduced as such before the eyes of the world.

I do not believe for one second our economic crisis was a result of the world recession or the decision of the former US President, Mr. Bush, to let Lehman Brothers go. I believe it was the policies of the Fianna Fáil-led Government. These have led to polarisation in society with, unfortunately, the Government successfully managing to pit private sector worker against public sector worker, the lower and middle classes against the upper classes. In the past 13 years, it has also marginalised people, giving a young educated generation no hope but to emigrate with no opportunity to return home.

The Budget Statement says that with the fall in economic activity and the impact on Government revenues, the State is no longer in a position to afford the level of public services and social welfare rates of recent years and that reductions in capital expenditure in 2011 will also be significant. That is an indictment of the Government's policies which have caused our nation to become paralysed and our people to live in fear and trepidation. I do not say that lightly. I canvass my constituency four days a week and everyone I meet is united in their disbelief at how Ireland has come to this.

Under three main headings, this budget can be judged as not being fair, not protecting the most vulnerable in our society and not providing a job stimulus package. I agree with Senator Hanafin that we must be careful with the language we use in these debates. As a teacher, I am proud of the students who come out of our schools and the graduates from our universities. I am also very proud of our public sector workers who do great work in their respective front-line services, protecting, defending, caring and educating.

I dismiss the naysayers – those opposed to reform – in the public service, however. The Fine Gael Party is not for cutting public sector wages but for real sectoral reform. The opportunity for reform could have been grasped in this budget but the Government flunked it. There is no need for the public sector to be afraid of Fine Gael's polices on the public sector. We stand with public sector workers, but for a better and more streamlined sector.

Ireland will recover. I agree with those speakers who say it is not banjaxed. It may be broken and demoralised, but we will rise again. We have done so at every opportunity in our history and always emerged as a better nation, producing great individuals in the arts, education, sport and music.

There must be a changing of the guard that runs the country. Any Government which can propose a reduction in the national minimum wage and allow the banks to continue with a culture of bonuses and high remuneration rates does not have the concerns of its people at heart. The bottom line is that the Government has not been pro-employment. We must examine how we can promote job creation and reward entrepreneurship. Surely a person is better off working than on social welfare, but there is no message of hope and fairness in the budget.

While I welcome the cuts to ministerial salaries, including the Taoiseach's, they do not go far enough. The Government has no real ability to tackle the cost of the political class. We can quote the percentage decreases in recent years, but those on lower incomes and the national minimum wage are being pummelled, which is wrong. We cannot allow a situation to continue where the marginalised are penalised. The budget is lacking in social justice and fairness. Since yesterday people have contacted me by text and telephone to ask how they can afford to continue when they are already struggling to make ends meet. Are we seriously saying blind people, the elderly and the disabled must pay for the sins of a few? I hope that is not the case.