Unfair and lacking radical ideas, says Bruton

DAIL REPORT: FINE GAEL REACTION:FINE GAEL finance spokesman Richard Bruton predicted people would be "dismally disappointed'' by the Budget.

“Instead of taking the radical steps to recondition an engine that you have failed, that you have brought to a standstill . . . instead of seeing that attempt, ordinary people are being asked to get out and push,’’ he added.

“And that is not fair . . . and it is not sufficiently visionary to address the scale of the problems we now face.’’

Mr Bruton claimed the Budget would do more to prolong the recession than to shorten it.

“Once again, we see the Minister going back to the old reliable of slashing investment, not only this year and last year but next year and the following year as well,’’ he added.

Mr Bruton accused the Government of failing to confront the cost problems that were dragging business down.

“Where is your radical idea, for example, to cut PRSI on employers, to give employers, hanging on by their fingernails, a chance to survive ?’’ he added.

He said Mr Lenihan was pretending that the credit problem was solved and he was setting up some review.

“That is not what people wanted to hear from you today, Minister. They wanted to see concrete actions that would actually transform the credit situation,’’ he said.

Accusing Mr Lenihan of ducking the challenges, Mr Bruton said the Minister was offering “an accountant’s Budget’’.

It was a recipe, he said, for being back in the same hole next year, looking to the same people for the same sort of sacrifices.

These were the carers, the family struggling on low income, the public servant on low income.

“That is the reality of what you dressed up today,’’ said Mr Bruton.

He said it would have been a far more fitting tribute to president Kennedy to have tried to stem emigration from the State rather than “a shallow gesture of recognition’’. Mr Bruton said that the the draconian Budget should not be happening.

“It is happening because Fianna Fáil failed to heed the warnings and drove this economy on to the rocks,’’ he added. “Even now, the thinking behind the Budget is short-sighted. It is sucking us into a cycle, a cycle of more job losses and higher debt.’’

Those people hurting badly from the Budget were those who had no hand, act or part in creating the problem, said Mr Bruton. “This is a jobless and joyless Budget,’’ he said, adding that real leadership was required from the Government.

“Fifty years ago this year, we saw that sort of real leadership from Lemass and Whitaker who offered a clear vision of how Ireland could be different . . . who had the determination and the courage to take action to overcome vested interests and confront problems with a bold vision,’’ he added.

“That sort of action is sadly absent from their present successors. And that is the tragedy we face today.’’

Many people, Mr Bruton noted, would feel the force of the Budget push them down, but none would nurture the belief that it would put the country back on its feet.