Liam Twomey (Fine Gael)

I support this Private Members' motion. Listening to the Leader, one would think we lived in the land of milk and honey where everything runs free. The reality is Ireland has been completely abandoned by international investors since last April. No matter what the Leader may think, the Government has lost the complete confidence of the people. It does not matter whether it is the Kaiser or the King who gives us the money, Fianna Fáil has handed over this nation's sovereignty to others.

I visited the Department of Finance with Deputy Noonan and the Fine Gael finance team in the run-up to the IMF-EU intervention. There are officials from the European Central Bank, the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund monitoring our progress. The Leader would have read the same letters as I have and, therefore, knows regular update reports must be made to the International Monetary Fund and the European Commission. That does not sound like the workings of a sovereign nation. Fianna Fáil has caused this problem.

The 2011 budget is the beginning of several years of misery for the people. What will happen to the road network, local authority housing and business rates in County Wexford when its local authority budget is reduced by 30%? The same applies to every local authority. A young family on €40,000 a year will find themselves €25 worse off when the full budget measures come into effect. This budget will hit and hurt many families.

The next large issue to face this country will be mortgage repayment defaults if interest rates go up. I do not know if the Leader has a mortgage, but I am paying a 3.5% interest rate on mine. The Leader claims we are getting cheap money from the International Monetary Fund at 5.8% which will be used to bail out the banks. There is a small problem of a 2.3% difference between what mortgage holders are paying now and what they could be paying later next year which will hammer their ability to repay. The Government has stored up many problems for every individual in the country for next year and the following year. Individual Green Party Members of the Oireachtas need to be clear about what they said last month. Are they expressing no confidence in the Government? Will they walk away from it next month? Are they just playing games with the people? Senator Boyle might find it unusual that someone could be more despised than Fianna Fáil members of the Government, but its Green Party members are playing games with the people by saying they might review the position.