As I was endeavouring to point out before the adjournment last night, something will have to be done for the people in this country if they are to exist. I suggested, in the first place, that something should be done to reduce taxation, and in order to put us on an equal footing with our competitors, that that taxation ought to be reduced by about half. That may seem a tall order, but if the Government want to prove to us that they are putting this country economically—we will leave out politically for the present—in as good a position as the other countries in the British Empire, which we have been told we are definitely a part of, they will need to reduce taxation by some £10,000,000 or £11,000,000. Perhaps that is impossible. If so, we will have to face that matter in some other way. Perhaps we could come to some arrangement by which the £5,000,000 that is going yearly to the British Government could be stopped. If not, we could at least, balance our Budget and see that the normal income is sufficient to defray current expenses. We could endeavour to bring the standard of living in this country up to what it should be, in order to give people at least the ordinary comforts of life. Not only the farmers and agricultural labourers, but every class is on the verge of starvation at the present time. I do not know if they are satisfied to go on with the present arrangement, keeping a Government in power which is admittedly not leaving them economically in as good a position as they were—if, on top of that, they are to be told that no political advantage is to be reached by this arrangement. If Ireland were a self-contained country, and if we were not exporting or importing, it would not matter so much about the cost of Government, because the producer would be in a position to charge whatever he liked to the consumer—to the civil servant, and anybody else that bought his stuff. He could charge what he liked, and whatever salaries we pay our higher officials, they would, in turn, have to pay the producer for what they bought. But, as we are not a self-contained country, the matter is quite different. If it is impossible, we ought to be told that economically this country cannot expect to be in as good a position as, say, England or other countries that we can compare ourselves with. If we are a bankrupt country, we had better realise that and cut our coat according to our cloth. There would be something to be said for suffering privation economically if we thought we were going to gain something politically sometime. When we are told definitely that the policy of the Government is that we should remain as we are, part of the British Empire; when we are told that there is to be no end of partition except by consent—that we must wait until the people of the North-East consent to come into this State, and that, further, we must wait until Great Britain consents also to that union— very little hope is held out to the people in their present state of starvation.
The President told us yesterday that their policy is the same as it was for the past five years. Perhaps that is far enough to go back. On August 5th, 1923, the President said:
We have appointed the ablest and best member of the Executive Council as our Boundary Commissioner. and in his hands it will be safe. When we are returned we will take the matter up and see it carried through to what we hope and believe will be a successful conclusion.
The ablest and best member of the Executive Council on the very same date—August 5th, 1923—said:
The North-East-Counties will be glad and proud to throw in their lot with the rest of Ireland. I know the North-East as well as any man, and I say that by making the most and the best of the power that is given into your hands you will take the surest way. It won't be rectifying the Boundary. There will be no Boundary. The Boundary will be the sea, and no other.
That is within the last five years.
