Taoiseach Brian Cowen today described the Budget as “one of the most crucial steps’’ on the State’s route to economic recovery.
“It is no ordinary Budget,” he said. “In the scales, it is nothing less than our whole economic future.” Confidence, said Mr Cowen, was the gold standard in today’s global economy.
“Whether we like it or not, we have to show the international markets that we are capable of getting our economy back on track, and our fiscal house in order,” he added.
Speaking in the Dáil during the resumed Budget debate, Mr Cowen said it was a defining moment for Ireland. “However, it does involve decisions, which will, for obvious reasons, be unwelcome to many people around the country,” Mr Cowen added.
He said that he was acutely aware of the difficulty and the pain cuts would cause people, but the Government had to take those decisions so that the State could move forward again.
“We do this, not because we want to, but because we must,” he added. The State, said Mr Cowen, had the ability to turn the corner.
“The older people amongst us will have seen many ups and downs in their lifetime, and know that, for all our difficulties, the vast majority of us are much better off today,” he said.
“With appropriate adjustment and proper appreciation, new opportunities and new ways of working, we have the assets and the ability to spring back and to move forward again.”
Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny said the Budget did not answer the questions of fairness, jobs or competitiveness.
“I believe the Achilles heel of your Government, Taoiseach, is not just in the Budget but it’s to do with Anglo Irish Bank. I believe that this is the fundamentally weak spot where you are concerned,” he said. “And I don’t believe that the €4 billion, €5 billion or €6 billion that you’re going to cut back and look for again next year for recapitalisation of Anglo-Irish is a separate matter”.
Mr Kenny said “the problem is that the golden circle is still complete. People are in jail in America but we still have no evidence of any prosecution pending here.”
The Fine Gael leader said “the point being made by the Minister for Finance in his pre-Budget outlook was that the advice from everybody – from the IMF, OECD, the ESRI - was that you would be far better dealing with a deficit in the public finances by current spending rather than taxation.
“And what did Minister Lenihan do? He went and imposed €6 billion worth of tax on people’s backs and pockets last April, with a consequential €8 billion loss up to the end of the year.
That was where “this budget does not add up from top to bottom” and the Budget and the Taoiseach’s failure in the talks had left “a very sullen, deeply resentful public service”.
Earlier, the Opposition challenged a proposal to pass all stages of the Social Welfare Bill, giving effect to budgetary provisions, by tomorrow evening.
Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore claimed that it was an act of political convenience to ensure the measures were passed before backbenchers returned to their constituencies at the weekend.
The Government won the division by 82 votes to 71.