Darragh O'Brien (Fianna Fail)

I thank the Minister for his comprehensive statement and would like to go over some areas of it. The Minister referred in his statement to the jobs initiative and the improvement in the agrifood and tourism sectors, saying this was in part due to measures implemented as part of the Government's recent jobs initiative. We see in the figures announced this week that approximately €461 million was raided from private pension schemes across the country to pay for the jobs initiative. We discussed this at length and opposed it in the Finance (No. 2) Bill on the basis of the effect it would have on people and existing annuitants in defined benefit, defined contribution and all pension schemes and pointed out that 80% of them are under funded.

The Department of Finance received advice on the pension levy, but decided not to publish that advice until a freedom of information request was submitted? We have seen the documents that were submitted on the pension levy. Many people, including the Minister's colleague in Cabinet, Deputy Joan Burton, argued vociferously against the pension levy on the basis of the effect it would have on pension schemes. That has been well documented. We have seen the effect with a scheme I raised in this House, the airline staff scheme at Dublin Airport which has 15,000 members. I am sure the Minister has received correspondence on this matter from the Tara Mines pensioners, who have seen a 10% reduction in their annuities and their average pension is now reduced from €10,000 to €9,000. We will see the same losses happening across the board over the next few months. I have no doubt the Minister has been inundated with correspondence from scheme trustees.

The Government decided on a jobs budget and is going ahead with it. I welcomed certain measures in that, among them the VAT reductions. How is the Department tracking whether the VAT reductions are being or have been passed on to consumers? What is the target for jobs? We have seen no target for the number of jobs to be created, yet the Minister is raising just short of €1.8 billion, effectively from people's savings, to pay for an initiative that has no set targets. The Minister believes that the jobs initiative has had an impact, particularly in the agrifood and tourism sectors. What positive impact has it had? Has the impact been quantified and have any new jobs been created in these sectors?

The Taoiseach has committed to there being no income tax increases and no social welfare cuts in the budget. The Minister seems to be at odds with the Taoiseach in that regard. Deputy Noonan has been more upfront on that by not ruling out any income tax increases or social welfare cuts. The parameters of the budget have been set and a minimum of €1.5 billion is to be raised through taxation. I do not see how that can be done without increases in income tax nor can I see how there can be savings of €2.1 billion without cuts to social welfare. Is the Government still committed to the announcement made by the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste at the much touted 100-days press conference? What is the Minister's view now and has the Government changed its view? Will we see tax increases? There have been social welfare cuts already, to the household benefits package and to the fuel allowances which kicked in this month. I ask the Minister to address these issues in his response.

The Minister mentioned the comprehensive spending review, but when does he intend to publish that? Will he wait until after the budget to publish it or will he publish it beforehand so that we have an opportunity to debate the budget in both Houses? With the comprehensive review available to all Members, we can have a proper analysis of the budget.

The Minister mentioned the initiatives being taken by the Government. I agree that creating jobs is what it is all about. The Government has established NewERA under the Minister of State, Deputy O'Dowd. Why has it established this without permission from the troika to use the moneys from the sale of State assets for job creation rather than for lowering the national debt? How are discussions in that regard going? Will the Minister confirm to the House that in the original EU-IMF deal with Ireland, there was no commitment to the sale of State assets, nor was there any figure given? Will he confirm that it was in the revised memorandum of understanding, negotiated by the Minister and the Taoiseach on behalf of the people, that the figure of €2 billion was first mentioned and that the Minister clearly said that he specifically recommended that an accelerated sale process should be considered? What had been mentioned previously was "possible privatisation". However, now it is in the Government agenda to sell State assets. Will the Minister confirm that was not part of the original deal?

We are all concerned by the ongoing crisis within Europe and the Minister mentioned this in his statement. He was at a meeting in Luxembourg on Monday and I was disappointed that the EU finance Ministers left that meeting without any decisions being taken again. I do not lay the blame at Deputy Noonan's door; I am sure he is doing his level best. Most people will agree that Europe is just struggling on week by week, without dealing with the banking crisis in the European sector. Two years ago, when we had our banking issues, many of us pointed out there was a European banking crisis. This is borne out now by what is happening in Dexia and the effect that will have in Belgium and France. What is the European view on recapitalisation? Chancellor Merkel has effectively said that she would be for the recapitalisation of European banks. A figure of €200 billion has been set out, but that is probably well short of what is required. What concerns does the Department of Finance have about this contagion spreading or any knock-on effects? The Minister has rightly said that our banks are well capitalised and I am sure he will agree that much of that work was done by the previous Administration. I welcome the fact the Minister has continued that work and our banks should be robust.

I disagree with the two-pillar bank approach taken by the Government. One of the issues in our banking crisis was that the banks were allowed become too big and they became larger than the economy. We missed a major opportunity by not selling EBS to the US consortium, which would have provided a third banking force in this country. What we will have now will be a massive AIB and Bank of Ireland and it is thanks to the UK Government that Ulster Bank will still have a presence here. Businesses will have only three banks. What is the Minister's view on the EBS? While it has been merged, will he leave it as a separate retail bank under the auspices of AIB? What has happened in that regard?

The Fine Gael election manifesto promised homeowners that mortgage interest relief would be increased to 30% for properties purchased within a four-year period. The Government said that it would be implemented but it has not been. Senator Marc MacSharry introduced a Bill in this House that would have brought real protection to principal private residences. It was defeated by the Government. The Government said it would increase mortgage interest relief and the average increase of that measure would have been €166 net per month. This would be significant for the electorate when it was deciding how it would place votes and place trust in the Fine Gael Party to do something about distressed mortgages and people in arrears. When will the Government do something for people with distressed mortgages and those who are in arrears? Will it see through the commitment it gave prior to the election to increase mortgage interest relief to 30%?