John Gilroy (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State. The Finance Bill is the single most important item of legislation in the legislative year, along with the Social Welfare Bill, and we would do well to carefully consider its contents. Things are looking a little bit brighter, but we need not overstate what is happening. It is our third year of growth. Exports are doing well. Our reputation is much enhanced and investor confidence has returned. We have had deals on our promissory notes and our other euro debt. We sold CoCo bonds and sovereign bonds recently. We returned to the markets successfully, and we are about to get rid of the bank guarantee. Those are good developments but, in addition, we need a deal on legacy bank debt, which I believe we will get after the German elections in September. All of those developments are irrelevant, however, when we consider that unemployment is the main crisis facing us. If the high level of unemployment is not reduced, the benefits we are trying to achieve in this Bill - and every other Bill we bring to the House - will not be felt by real people, so to speak, which is the reason we are here.

An hour and 25 minutes ago I had a conversation with a young man who is unemployed. He was self-employed during the boom years. He has a wife and a four-year-old daughter. He told me he cannot afford to buy clothes for his four-year-old girl. That is shocking, and it is a terrible thing to happen to anyone. That is the reality facing him and many other people in our society. When we debate the Finance Bill we must not forget the real stories and the real people. If that young man is listening to me he would ask whether the Bill we are discussing here will make a difference to him and his family, including his little girl. We must acknowledge - the Minister acknowledged it in his opening statement - that while the macro-indicators are positive, and I have outlined how positive they are, the micro-indicators are not being felt in our communities. We must keep that in mind and do everything we can to focus on that.

The answer I would have to give this young man is that unless we can close a ¤13 billion deficit, which is a shocking figure considering we have already taken over ¤20 billion out of the economy, nothing will make any difference to us. I have heard suggestions that we could introduce a higher rate of tax for higher earners or even a higher level of universal social charge for higher earners. I have some sympathy for that argument, and there may be some scope to do that. However, if we were to try to close the deficit by taxation measures alone, we could put 20% onto all tax heads in the next budget, if we were happy to do that, but it would destroy the economy. We must find a balance between cuts and revenue-raising measures. That is a dreadful decision to have to make. Dreadful decisions have been made, and further dreadful decisions will be made, but we can avoid making those decisions. The Labour Party and Fine Gael have a history in that regard. The Minister will recall being told about the time in the 1980s when we, as a Fine Gael-Labour Party Government, failed the people of this country by postponing those decisions, and the result of that was ten years of stagnation.

In terms of what we need to do now, we need to make the decisions. If I were to say anything to that young man, his wife and his little girl it would be that we must make the decisions now. The worst is probably behind us, but a considerable effort will be needed to achieve the benefits of the recovery that is ahead of us. I welcome the senior Minister, Deputy Noonan, to the House. He said some time ago that if we do things right the economy is ready to spring forward and the benefits from that will accrue to everyone.

This young man told me he would do anything for his wife and family. We would all do that. He also said he wanted to make a difference. I had prepared a great speech for this debate that would touch on all the wonderful topics of our time but having spoken to this young man I tore it up and asked myself if there is a real possibility that we, as politicians, are forgetting the reason we are in these Houses. Do we really understand the decisions we make and the impact of those decisions on the lives or ordinary people? That young man might make a difference - he probably has - but when we are arguing over the detail of this Bill on Committee Stage tomorrow we should remember that none of us in this Chamber has ever been faced with the prospect of being unable to buy clothes for his or her four-year-old. That is a shocking indictment. We should remember that. This is not the usual Second Stage speech, but it is no harm to remind ourselves of the reason we are in this House.