The mandate given to this Government comprised of two parties, the Fine Gael Party and the Labour Party, is to deal with the problem that our country faces. That problem is that our finances were way out of line and the structures and the way business was being conducted in this country could not, cannot and will not continue in that fashion. This Government has a mandate from the people to sort that out and give our country back to our people. Far from assuming that if we leave things as they are, they will rectify themselves, they will not rectify themselves - even the Deputy knows that.
Let me repeat the facts. The Deputy and others, prior to this budget, were out on the streets, as they are perfectly entitled to do, saying that all of these allowances would be decimated, savaged or abolished. In fact, the old-age pension was not cut in the budget, free travel was not cut, the carer's allowance was not cut, the half-rate carer's allowance was not cut and home care packages were not cut. In the area of social protection, the Government increased the ceiling of expenditure and added a further €100 million in order to protect the issues we are concerned about. It is not a case of deciding that one can increase everything that is there. I understand, as does the Deputy, the pressure that many people are under. He rightly raises the report published today in respect of joblessness in this country. That is what this budget is actually about - jobs and opportunities and giving small and medium enterprises, the backbone of any economy, the chance to flourish and prosper. That is why the Minister for Finance made no bones about his inclusion of a particular package for small and medium enterprises so that our economy can be driven to rise towards prosperity and employment for the future.
Creating employment is the focus when I meet my colleagues at the European Council, when we speak of the fact that unemployment among young people is at 58% in Greece, 50% in Spain and 29% here, while it is virtually nil in Austria and a number of other countries. That is what the European Council and we in this country must focus on - giving these young people hope and an opportunity to see that where one makes decisions with a view towards a thriving economy, that employment, opportunity and work will follow. When I visited Nypro in Bray some days ago, I saw all the young engineers, the vast majority from this country, creating the future in terms of the concepts they translate into reality. That goes back a number of years to a different Minister who made the decision to establish Science Foundation Ireland and invest for the future in mathematics, science, research and innovation. That is paying dividends now.
What the Minister for Finance did in this budget was place a deliberate focus on jobs and job opportunities. The vast majority of hard-pressed, middle-income families and those who are out of work will never have the opportunity we all want them to have unless we change the way we do business and unless we can grow our economy. That is why the competitiveness rating of our country has increased and interest rates internationally for borrowing have fallen. That is in the interests of people having confidence in our indigenous economy to spend, have access to finance and have assistance from the State facilities to maintain and grow their employment numbers and change direction. That is what the budget is about. It is not about any individual party in this House; it is about Government working for the people of Ireland and our country.
