Paul Bradford (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Certain words take hold in the language of politics for several years and then they disappear. The big word at the moment is “austerity”. What some call austerity is what others would call a genuine attempt to balance the books. In every household, people are trying desperately to live within their means, struggling to do so. Sometimes they have to borrow to make ends meet but are still trying to live responsibly within their means. That is what the Government is trying to do too. If one wants to call it austerity, that is fine. However, the creation of negativity might generate short-term political gains for a few but it does very little for the citizens. Let us move beyond austerity and be more positive.

Extraordinary work has been undertaken in the course of the Haddington Road agreement negotiations. Unions, as one would expect, have not always been united as there is no perfect or unitary solution when it comes to economics. There is a genuine effort, the fruits of which we see with this Bill, to bring about a public sector agreement which is sustainable and over which everybody can stand. In that sense we must support this agreement.

Austerity, housekeeping and bookkeeping are one important side of the equation. Nationally, the Government must look at the other side of the balance sheet with the cost of living endured by our citizens. We must make more strident and powerful efforts on health care, transport and energy costs. All the salary increases in the world are of little benefit if we cannot contain and control the cost of living. The Government has no choice but to take income from people in this Bill. We must also make the same effort to tackle costs. The Government must set aside a significant amount of political time over the next months to challenge the costs base in this country. We seem to be refusing to tackle it head on and give people some degree of hope on the spending front.

I wish the Minister well in his efforts with this legislation. We all know we are slowly but surely bringing the country around. I should not say “A lot done, more to do”. However, 100 weeks ago this country was devoid of all hope. At least there is some degree of confidence now.