In this debate we are discussing the spending by the Government of a sum of £551 million. By the end of the Financial Year we may have another Budget, but if things proceed as they have done in other years, the Government may be spending £560 million or £570 million. On top of that sum there is £217 million in the Capital Budget and £60 million being collected in rates this year. The Government and the local authorities will be spending roughly £827 million. Despite this huge expenditure our country is faced with a crisis. It is still not progressing as all Irishmen would like to see it progress. All our present woes and troubles are due to the fact that we have no leadership from the top. There is no collective responsibility as it is known by other Cabinets and other Governments throughout the world. The Taoiseach must accept full and unmitigated responsibility for the non-performance of many members of his Government at the present time. We are entitled to ask what they are doing. The only reaction we hear from many of them are vague noises and woolly talk, often appealing to the people to save more, to work harder and to practise more self-denial. These are all good and commendable sentiments, but the lead must come from the top and from the members of the Government. We need example from the top and we are certainly not getting it from the present Government. In the words of the Minister for Finance we have at the present time too many low standards in high places. There are Tacateers, racketeers and speculators of every description who can get rich quickly while the poor of the country get poorer. This is completely wrong.
Those of us who are on local authorities know that the road grants have been cut which means that ordinary workers get less work. The Land Commission money has been cut. This means that the ordinary workers who usually get nine or ten months work will be laid off, or fewer men will be employed. There is only half the number of people employed in forestry now as compared with the number working on forestry years ago. It is completely wrong, with an expenditure of £850 millions approximately, that when the Government have to make savings they start at the bottom rung of the ladder. If this continues, if the racketeers, Tacateers and the speculators are allowed to get rich quickly, if the Government crucify the man at the bottom rung of the ladder by taking away the dole, we will have a revolution and the people will go on the streets. The blame can rest only on the shoulders of the Taoiseach and the Government.
Today we are confronted with a crisis in our financial affairs which is more menacing than any we have faced since the war. The situation is grim for the workers and those people on the dole. It is wrong for our Ministers and the Taoiseach to put the blame on the workers and the farmers. The main cause of the crisis is excessive expenditure by the Government and lack of proper planning, programming and leadership. The captain and the crew are arguing with one another while the ship of State is drifting on to the rocks.
It is wrong for the Taoiseach and the Government to continue misleading the people. We know the Taoiseach cannot take the members of the Cabinet or members of his party into his confidence but he should tell the truth to the people. During the last war when the Irish people were told the facts the farmers and the workers did their job and helped the people to survive. The Irish people have always risen to the occasion and I have no doubt they would do so again if the full facts were told to them.
Ministers should stop pretending that prosperity for all is just round the corner. We have been listening to this kind of talk for a long time. I heard the late Mr. Seán Lemass when he was Taoiseach and other Fianna Fáil Ministers say we were going up the hill, that we were ready to go around the corner, but unfortunately Fianna Fáil have never brought us to the top of the bill. The Government cannot regain the confidence of the people because their image is tarnished; they must go before the people if their image is not to be ruined forever.
There are people on this side of the House who can put the economy right; we can have good and honest government by men of integrity. We can encourage our people to work harder in order to face increasing competition; we can give the proper incentives and abolish restrictive practices. In the past this country withstood Cromwell. A member of the Fianna Fáil National Council, Nóirín Ní Scolláin, who resigned recently from the Fianna Fáil organisation, stated in her letter of resignation that the Taoiseach was worse than Cromwell. I should not like to make that statement but this has been said by a person who was on the Fianna Fáil National Executive. In any case, this country withstood Cromwell and I suppose it can withstand those who are supposed to be even worse. There is nothing wrong with our economy that good leadership, sound policies and efficient government will not put right.
It is only right to point out that since Fianna Fáil returned to office some 14 years ago the cost of running the country has increased from £108 million in 1956 to roughly £550 million today. During the same period we borrowed more than £800 million and we are still borrowing. We are sinking this country further into debt. The cost of servicing the public debt has risen from £13 million in 1956 to more than £113 million today, as set out in the recent White Paper. In 1948-51 the Government of the day borrowed money to build hospitals to cure tuberculosis and to build houses. The national debt was less than one-sixteenth what it is today, but when the people went to the polling booths they were met by Fianna Fáil henchmen who told them the country was ruined because the Government had borrowed too much. They had a poster with a pawnbroker's sign on it and Deputy Cunningham, who is now a Parliamentary Secretary, said that next we would be borrowing to buy a cup of tea.
Do Fianna Fáil remember what they said in the past? Why was it wrong to borrow at that time? We borrowed at home but now we are borrowing abroad. We have mortgaged the land, the factories and the forests of Ireland, and now there is very little left apart from the lakes for future loans. Posterity will have to pay dearly for the present incompetent Government.
The cost of living has soared. I do not want to go back and mention what the dear old gentleman in the Park and others said at one time when they shed crocodile tears about the cost of living. The housewife is well aware that the pound is rapidly losing value. In 1969 we had a record adverse balance of trade, reaching about £209 million. When the Government were in Opposition they spoke out loudly against our adverse trade balance. Now that we are negotiating for entry into Europe it might be no harm to mention that many of us believe that the people have not been prepared for the competition they will face in the Common Market. Since 1965 the gap in the balance of trade has been widening.
In 1968 it was £152.9 million, in 1969 it was £209 million and in 1970 it was also £209 million. When I put down a question to the Taoiseach asking the total value of imports from and exports to each country in the EEC since the Community's inception, I was told that imports from the six countries amounted to £702,225,000 while we exported to those countries only £284,604,000 worth, leaving a deficit of approximately £417 million. Surely that is a failure and something of which no Government could be proud. Since those people have exported so much to us in the past we will need to be on our toes to ensure that this type of situation does not occur in the future.
The Government talk about inflation but it is they who should give a lead. The signs of inflation have been evident for the past few years and this is the third consecutive year in which there has been a deficit in the balance of payments. In 1968 it amounted to £16.3 million, in 1969 it was £69.1 million and in 1970 it was £62 million. Therefore, during the last seven years of Fianna Fáil Government there have been only two years in which there was a surplus in our balance of payments —in 1957 there was a surplus of £9.2 million and of £15.2 million in 1967. During the years the deficit in the balance of payments was £22.1 million in 1963, £31.4 million in 1964, £41.8 million in 1965 but as will be seen from the figures I have already given there has been an increase in the past three years to £69.1 million and £62 million respectively. In spite of those danger signs the Government are standing idly by.
We are living on borrowed money and on borrowed time. The state of our economy can be attributed to the mismanagement of the Fianna Fáil Government. The Minister for Transport and Power said recently that the party are united, but we all know that the only matter on which they are united is the cutting of each others throats. If we had had a united Government whose Ministers worked hard in co-ordinating their efforts, we would have been in a position to encourage our people to work harder and to increase exports and we would not have the adverse trade balance that we have today. It is time the Government woke up. They should find somewhere besides each others backs in which to bury the tomahawks. It is time they forgot their party's squabbles and worked determinedly in the interest of the people and of the country or, failing that, call a general election and have a new Government elected, because the Government in power today are not the party or the Ministers that the Taoiseach asked the people to vote for in 1969. Half the Ministers that we had at that time are now in oblivion.
As a constructive Opposition we have the national interest at heart. We have not only the right but the duty to ask ourselves what lasting value have we got for the people of this country. If, as a result of the Government's financial policy, the expenditure of £828 million in the Capital Budget, we, as Members of this Dáil, were in a position to say that emigration had ceased, that unemployment had been reduced substantially and that the number of people at work in Ireland had been increased greatly, we would have some ground for satisfaction and, whether we agreed with the Government or not, we could congratulate them on that state of affairs. But such is not the case. Irrespective of political beliefs, we are concerned to see that more people can live and work happily in this country and bring up their families in reasonable comfort, but the Government have failed our people.
It is only right to put on the records of the House the present state of this country. I have heard Fianna Fáil speakers, including the late Seán Lemass and the present Taoiseach, say that Fianna Fáil should be judged on the number of people in employment in the country. In that context I must emphasise that since Fianna Fáil were returned to office more than 500,000 of our young people have had to emigrate to earn a living abroad. Before elections in the past we saw posters all over the country with the caption: "Wives, put your husbands to work" but when these women went out to vote they did not realise that where they would be putting their husbands to work would be in Birmingham, Glasgow, Coventry or elsewhere, but this is what happened. Many people are still emigrating. The figure is about 25,000 for each year.
Many people may not realise that there are fewer people at work today than there were some years ago. If one happens to hear a Fianna Fáil speaker being interviewed on radio or television, one will invariably hear him say that many more jobs have been created in industry. However, what these speakers do not tell the people is that many people have left the land, have turned the keys in their doors and have had to emigrate. While some of these people would not have had a very good living under the British regime here, at least they were able to live in the country. Neither do Fianna Fáil speakers tell us that there are far fewer people employed in the county councils, in forestry and by the Department of Lands. On the 24th November, 1970, I asked the Taoiseach the total number of people at work during 1951; the total number at work at the latest available date in 1970; the reduction expressed as a percentage of total number of people; and the reasons for the reduction. The Parliamentary Secretary to the Taoiseach gave the following reply:
The total number of persons at work in the State in April, 1951, was 1,217,000. The corresponding figure for 1970 is not yet available, the most recent estimate being that for 1969. In 1969 the total at work was 1,069,000 representing a reduction of 12.2 per cent on the 1951 figure.
In other words there are 148,000 fewer people at work now than in 1951. The Government tell us half-truths here. Unfortunately, more will be unemployed this year because as I said earlier there is less money to provide work in county councils, forestry and lands. This is completely wrong but this is what the Government are doing.
The Government should remember that the safety valve of emigration may not be always there. What will happen if England closes her doors to Irish emigrants? Over 500,000 people have emigrated in the last 14 years. Since the Government introduced their recent dole restriction there are 70,000 people unemployed. That is how Fianna Fáil have solved emigration and unemployment. If we had no safety valve of emigration and if we added the 500,000 who emigrated to Britain and elsewhere to the 70,000 at present unemployed we would now have 570,000 unemployed. This is something the Government should face up to. Britain has her own problems at present with 800,000 people unemployed.
We are educating more people. In that regard it is worth nothing that there is a reduction in the money being granted for education. The universities are getting less and they have been instructed to employ no more professors. What will happen the young people we are now educating? Is it fair to them that when they are educated the Government cannot give them positions in their own country? The increased emigration is a damning indictment of the present Government and their policy and as a responsible Opposition it is our duty to put these things on record. The Government stand condemned and if we do not speak out we shall be accused of acquiescence in what is obviously a conspiracy of silence for political reasons aimed at deluding the public.
Dealing with agriculture in his Budget Statement the Minister said:
As regards agriculture, the Government are sympathetic to the situation that farmers have found themselves in over the past couple of years whereby as a result of inflation incomes in certain other sectors have increased at a faster rate than those of the farmers.
The Government's sympathy is very little use to farmers who cannot feed or clothe their wives and children on it. The Government should realise that. Figures were published recently which I think surprised many people. Something like 60 per cent of our farmers are small farmers with poor law valuations in the region of £30 or £40 and their income was shown to be in the £450 to £500 bracket. At present an agricultural labourer earns £15-£16. Surely the Government realise small. farmers are almost on the poverty line and sympathy is very little use to them? The gap between the farmers' income and that of industrial workers has now grown to about £9 or £9 10s per week. The Government have talked of tackling this for a long time. If only they would tackle it as they have tackled one another in the Cabinet, they might get somewhere. So far they have done nothing because what has been given—1d on milk—is no use in view of the increased overheads and increased rates farmers must meet at present.
The sheep population is down by one million. Farmers are being encouraged to increase the sheep population but when they did achieve a slight increase this year over last year the price of lambs fell by £2 to £3. Cattle prices are good at present and last week the Minister for Transport and Power waxed eloquent about these prices but very little thanks are due to Fianna Fáil for these prices. If Fianna Fáil had the same regard for cattle, sheep and pigs 30 or 40 years ago as they have now the position might be better for all of us.
Farmers represent roughly 30 per cent of our population. We have 16 million acres of arable land. I suppose the prosperity of everyone in the last analysis depends on what the farmers and their workers can get from the land and export profitably. Directly or indirectly the farmers are responsible for almost 70 per cent of our total exports but they get only 14.8 per cent of the national income.
On Tuesday, 11th May, I had a question to the Taoiseach. I admit that ten years ago the farming population was greater than it is now but ten years ago the farmers were getting 29 per cent of the national income; four years ago they were getting 19 per cent; three years ago they were getting 17.9 per cent and last year they got 15.6 per cent. This year they got 14.8 per cent of the national income. One-third of the people, who are responsible for 70 per cent of our exports, get one-sixth of the national income. Is that fair play or justice?
There are 286,136 people in the farming community and they get 14.8 per cent of the national income. According to the figures I got from the Taoiseach other sections representing 77,858 people got 20.9 per cent of the national income. Those figures show a very unfair position and it is time that the Government, instead of saying that the farmers have their sympathy, did something for our principal industry, instead of tearing each other asunder.
On the same occasion I asked a question about the number of farmers and found that from 1951 to 1966 the number of farmers had fallen by 35,000. The estimated number of agricultural labourers has fallen between 1957 and 1970, by 28,000. The estimated number of persons at work in agriculture, forestry and fishing has fallen from 452,000 in 1954 to 291,000, a decrease of roughly 150,000. I do not think any Government should be proud of those figures. Instead of saying they are sympathetic to the situation which farmers have found themselves in over the years, as a result of Government policy or lack of it, the Government should face up to their responsibilities and do something for this important section of the community.
The Minister spoke about inflation. On the eve of our entry into the EEC one of the greatest dangers facing us is the high priced economy deliberately forced upon us by the Fianna Fáil Government some years ago when they reduced food subsidies, introduced the turnover tax, extravagantly increased the cost of Government administration and increased taxation which is now five times as high as it was in 1956. They also extravagantly increased the cost of local administration and rates are now £60 million.
Many of our exports have been priced out of the British market and some of our products are much higher in price than those produced in the EEC countries due to taxation and the Government's financial policy, or lack of it. We are pricing ourselves out of foreign markets and if this policy continues our industries will not be able to hold the Irish market when tariffs are reduced or abolished. At the present time many of our own industrial products cannot be sold in shops in Dublin and many factories are suffering on that account. This is the road to economic disaster. It is time a national campaign was launched to bring this warning home to everyone because we are slowly but surely committing hara kari.
It is the Government's duty to give a lead, control the economy and balance all the factors one against the other. They are the only people who know the true facts and it is their duty to help the people get full advantage of the Free Trade Area Agreement we have made with Britain. There are many disadvantages in that agreement and our Ministers should be in Britain pointing out these disadvantages to the British Government instead of spending their time arguing and fighting among themselves.
The more we look at the sad history of this country during the past few years the more we realise the Government are responding to every wind that blows for political expediency. They have their eyes on the ballot box. They want to hold on to the fruits of office and the fruits of power. They are not interested in fair play; they are not interested in cherishing all the children of the nation equally; they are interested in keeping their hands as near the loot as possible. Anything they do they do with an eye on the ballot box and not for the common good. They have in the past given labour its head when labour was restive; they took the employers' side when employers were worried and they have come to the succour of sectional interests at different times. They have given way to pressure groups, they have ignored the interests of the country and we see the results all round us.
We had a maintenance strike which went on for six to eight months and nearly paralysed the country. The Government stood idly by. They did nothing good, bad or indifferent about it. I believe Senator Dunne was President of the Congress of Trade Unions at the time and he pointed out at that time that if they continued along the road they were on they would be committing suicide. He said it was up to the workers to come together and get agreement but the Government gave no lead at that time. We had a bank strike which lasted almost nine months and nearly crippled the country and again the Government stood idly by. Were they afraid that if they interfered they might alienate one section of the community and not get their votes in a future general election? I do not know what the reason is but again they stood idly by.
To remain viable under the Free Trade Area Agreement and be ready for entry into the EEC the Government must coax and lead and if necessary they must force employers and trade unions to accept changes in their own interests and in the interests of the country. We can no longer afford to allow irresponsibility to masquerade as an exercise of democratic liberty. Through deliberate Government action a flabby cost structure has been inflated like a balloon. Indeed, there is a serious danger of the collapse of the balloon. It cannot be denied that Government policy has been calculated to raise prices and costs. What we want is a reasonable term of stability so that everybody can co-operate and bake a larger national cake. When that national cake is baked every section of the community should get a fair and just slice of it. Unfortunately today we are handing out slices of the cake before it is even baked and certain pressure groups are getting greater slices than they are entitled to. The Government should know full well that if one section gets more than it is entitled to other sections must take less and that is definitely harming our economy at the present time.
Industry will be of great importance for the future of the country if and when we enter the EEC. The Minister spoke about the EEC and about concentrating on transitional measures in the industrial and agricultural sectors. I claim the Government are not doing enough in this direction to prepare the people for the competition which undoubtedly lies ahead if we enter the EEC. As far as we on this side of the House are concerned we believe the policy of promoting industrial exports through tax incentives and encouraging foreign investment in this country is the right policy. Having initiated that policy we see no reason for changing it simply because Fianna Fáil have adopted it in preference to their original policy of economic self-sufficiency which they have abandoned for the last ten or 12 years. Our industrial policy of expanding employment for our own people in our own country should be further stimulated and supported and it is not being done in this Budget.
The 58 per cent company tax will hit many industries. We should now, by tax concessions, get our people and our industries more efficiently geared to meet the competition which as I have said earlier undoubtedly lies ahead.
When Mr. Dan Morrissey was Minister for Industry and Commerce he established the Industrial Development Authority to promote industrial enterprise. Fianna Fáil at that time were loud in their condemnation; but they have since learned and the Industrial Development Authority is now the cornerstone of industrial finance from Government sources for the promotion of new industries. We can claim the credit for that. In the 1955 Finance Act the late Deputy Sweetman, Minister for Finance, provided special tax remissions for export industries. These received scant praise from Fianna Fáil at the time. I remember the late Deputy Lemass stating here that Fianna Fáil would yet be in a position to take those Acts off the Statute Book. That is on record. That did not happen because once again Fianna Fáil learned sense and saw the value of these statutes. Both Deputy Sweetman and Deputy Norton in the then inter-Party Government were determined to do what they could do for the people; they were united in that determination, unlike the present Fianna Fáil Government united in their determination to cut one another's throats. They realised that, instead of having Irish workers emigrating to find employment elsewhere, it would be better to provide that employment at home by appealing to those with the money and the knowhow to establish industries here. Before the inter-Party Government went out in 1956 Whitegate oil refinery had come into this country with £20 million. Today it provides valuable employment. The industrial progress in this country in the last 14 years is due to the initiative of Deputy Sweetman and Deputy Norton in 1956. It is to them the credit is due, not to Fianna Fáil.
It is the Government's duty to protect the weak and not to yield to pressure groups. No one should yield to the leaders of wild cat strikes. Do those who engineer these strikes realise that they are cutting their own throats? Is it not their own fellow workers they are hurting? We can have increased prosperity only through increased production and by making a larger cake available. Breaking agreements will never bring about increased production.
