Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Senator Rose Conway-Walsh mentioned corporation tax, as did Senator Aodhán Ó Ríordáin. There are many people in County Mayo working in foreign and direct investment companies. They get up in the morning, bring their children to a crèche and work hard on three and four cycle shifts. They would be gobsmacked to hear it was seriously being suggested that we do something about the 12.5% corporation tax rate which one Senator referred to as "the sacred cow". His party leader was Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, yet now they are talking about getting rid of it. Is it any wonder the party is angry with the electorate, rather than the electorate being angry with it?

Senator John Dolan addressed the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The last time I was in the House we had a good discussion about disability budgeting. The Senator is right. I know that Senator Rose Conway-Walsh bemoans the fact that we are heading towards full employment, but she is right about people with disabilities. It will be a massive challenge for this and future Governments to make sure those on the margins - people with disabilities, people from new ethnically different communities or from parts of the country where there might be infrastructural challenges - are brought into the labour market.

This is part of an overall process which includes, although no one referenced it, the National Economic Dialogue, an overall discussion between all interest groups, all politicians and Departments before there are singular point to point contacts between the Departments of Public Expenditure and Reform and Finance and individual groups.

I will finish where I started. Everybody has asked for something, but we have only a set amount of money. Senator Rose Conway-Walsh referred to the national development plan. She did not name one project that she would like to see taken out of it to be substituted by something else because she would run the risk of becoming politically unpopular. God between us and all harm, that will never happen. Every time something is asked for, something has to come out or the level of indebtedness has to go up. The figure of €41,500 for every man, woman and child in the country would go up. The overall level of indebtedness is being masked by GDP. I do not believe the comparison between Ireland and the United States is fair. This is a small, open economy that is exposed to risks, as Senator Ian Marshall said. The United States economy is far bigger and more resilient. It is able to pile on debt because the cycle it goes through is faster, which means that the level of indebtedness is outstripped by GDP growth. We do not have that luxury in Ireland. Looking in the rear view mirror, as a Government, we definitely do not want to go back to where we were for the previous six or seven years.

I thank the Acting Chairman for giving me and the other speakers latitutde. I welcome the contributions made on the summer economic statement and look forward to coming back to the House.