Liam Twomey (Fine Gael)

Senator Hanafin should have waited until I, like the Minister, had completed the political part of my speech. Senator Hanafin is also in haste to face the people and that will happen soon enough.

The Bill represents a holding position. When one delves deeply into it, one wonders how much the Minister can stand over. Many provisions have been amended or dropped. They are expected to generate savings in a full year, which I doubt will come to fruition. If the Croke Park agreement does not deliver on the reform and efficiencies outlined by next September, the IMF negotiators said they would impose stringent cuts unilaterally. How will the huge Exchequer deficit be reduced in the coming years and a start made on it this year?

Fine Gael wants a reduction of 30,000 jobs throughout the public sector. This includes quangos and public servants who are not doing much as opposed to the vast majority who work hard. However, a choice must be made as to whether we reduce public sector numbers, insist on pay cuts for public servants or increase taxes for everybody. The Government is avoiding that debate. Of all the political parties contesting this election, other than Sinn Féin, Fianna Fáil is saying it will make the smallest reduction in staff numbers in the public sector. In other words, if Fianna Fáil is returned to power, which is highly unlikely, it will increase taxes for everybody or further reduce the pay of public servants whom the party has hit so hard over the past 18 months. That lack of honesty in dealing with gardaí, teachers and nurses is turning people off politics. Fine Gael candidates are prepared to talk to public servants on the doorsteps and say we are looking to get rid of quangos and reduce numbers across the public sector but Fianna Fáil is not even prepared to be that honest with this legislation. What hope have the people if they let the party back into power again?

I have met many self-employed people on the canvass. They are not among those earning more than €100,000 a year whom the Minister is rewarding with an additional tax. He has adopted the simplistic notion that he can tax the self-employed. He does not know how much the 10% USC to be paid by them will bring in. He has thrown it out as an option for the election and nothing else. A number of these people have lost their businesses and there is no safety net for them. They cannot draw social welfare and they are entitled to nothing else when their businesses go broke. That is why the man to whom I referred earlier is selling his house. He has nothing. The Government wants to promote SMEs but there is no safety net for individuals who are prepared to take a chance to get the country moving again if everything does not work out for them. That is neglectful on the part of Fianna Fáil.

Every worker has found out how the budget has affected their pay cheque. They are well aware of what will be the cost of the bank bailout and what Bertienomics is all about. They have been ruined by the Government. People now know how much the USC charge is and the effect of the reductions in the widow's pension and the carer's allowance. They are hurting but the Government does not recognise that.

As Donald Rumsfeld would say, what about the known unknowns? The Bill provides for €450 million in cuts that are described as "administrative efficiencies". Perhaps Senator Hanafin will explain that in his contribution. What are those cuts? What policies underpin them? I asked that question of the Minister of State two months ago and he still has not given me a straight answer. Fianna Fáil Ministers are coasting out of Government and they are leaving an unholy mess for those coming after them.