Sean Barrett (Independent)

I thank Senator Conway for his kind invitation to Clare. Yesterday, I raised item 17 on the Order Paper, the Fiscal Responsibility (Statement) Bill 2011, with the Leader as it is overdue by many months. The Bill appeared in the afternoon and I compliment him on his superior efficiency compared to the Department of Finance. I hope that when the Taoiseach visited here he too noted the superior efficiency of the House. His visit was welcome.

The IMF's recent conclusions stated:

Maintaining expensive universal supports and subsidies is difficult to justify under present budgetary circumstances. Better targeting of the child benefit, medical card spending, the household benefits package and the expenditure on non-means tested pensions can generate significant savings while protecting the poor.

Some of what we heard earlier makes me think that Ireland must have the richest poor people in the world because of the way they make special pleadings when the IMF reports on rampant inequalities in this society, furthered by extra State expenditure towards extremely rich people. I recall studies in the United Kingdom which showed that the Common Agricultural Policy mostly benefited the members of the aristocracy because they owned more land. Public expenditure is not always progressive in its distribution and can be highly regressive. That is what the IMF has told us and we would be well placed to listen to its advice and analyse it rather than have knee-jerk reactions.