As I was saying before Question Time, this budget more than anything else has placed the emphasis on the need for employment, the need to take people off the unemployment register, to take them out of the social welfare arena, to give then new dignity in their lives and new confidence in a resurgent Ireland. We are emerging after four years of Coalition Government, four years of depression and despondency, not all, I might add, due entirely to the Coalition. There were certain outside factors that contributed to some of the depressing things that happened. Nonetheless, the complete incompetence of that administration brought about the situation where people had not got sufficient confidence in themselves, in their nation, economically, socially or culturally.
The previous speaker spoke about the attack on the freedom of the Press by the former Minister for Posts and Telegraphs and, in particular, on The Irish Press. As a former journalist, I recognised what was happening. It was a very dangerous situation. The freedom to publish letters and views from people was being impugned and the right of newspaper editors to decide what they would publish was being called into question. For the first time, I believe, in the history of this State, the freedom of expression was under direct attack from Government. Thankfully, that does not arise anymore, in the sense that with the appointment of a new Director-General in RTE we have the absolute minimum of interference in such an appointment for the first time ever and it is a very important point. For the first time ever, there has been no political consideration in such a very important appointment. I welcome that appointment and I want to have it on record here that I welcome that appointment and I welcome the Government's approach to this kind of appointment.
I mentioned earlier that I would come back to the Guaranteed Irish campaign and I intend to refer to it briefly once again. Our shops are full of imported goods, Italian silks, Italian shoes. Yet we have adequate industrial facilities to produce the cloth required for suits and to produce shoes that are adequate, comfortable and well-designed. We should not underestimate the quality of Irish goods and the quality of the Irish workers who produce them. Even if an Irish-made product costs 10p, 15p, 20p or 30p more than an imported product, is it not well worth while to buy the Irish product in the sense that this will provide work for people in the industries concerned? It is OK to be a trendy dresser, to wear a silk tie, a silk suit and Italian shoes but the purchasing of these goods means, in effect, keeping yet another Irish worker on the dole queue.
The social welfare increases of 10 per cent would appear at first sight to be inadequate. We all agree that, if we could give more, we would give more. Unfortunately, we are not as yet getting oil from the Irish Sea. In due course, maybe, it will come. Certainly, if inflation continues to make the dramatic decline that now appears to be on the horizon, the 10 per cent has more significance and more meaning for the old age pensioner and social welfare recipient.
There is one very important factor in maintaining the real value of that 10 per cent, and that is the national wage agreement. As a life-long trade unionist and as a member of the Irish Transport and General Workers' Union for the past 15 years and a former shop steward, I would appeal to the members of that union to support the national wage agreement, to vote for it, to cast their vote for it in the same way as most of them cast their vote for the Fianna Fáil Party that is now the Government. It will be the less well-off sector that will suffer unless this national wage agreement is put through. A free-for-all will leave the weaker section of the community in a position where they cannot negotiate, where they cannot get their 8 per cent or 10 per cent. There will be no benefit to them. Indeed, I believe there will be no benefit to the vast majority of people. Jobs will be lost, fewer jobs will be created, unless the national wage agreement is put through.
I have absolute faith in my colleagues in the transport union that they will vote for. But, there is one thing about voting for and I would like to put this to the transport union. I should like to see an independent assessor at the counting of the votes on the national wage agreement. There is no means of telling—and this is not to cast any doubts on my colleagues in the administration of the transport union—whether or not the votes have been legitimately counted for or against. I appeal to the transport union to accede to my request that an independent accountant be permitted to count the votes cast for or against the national wage agreement. None of my colleagues in the transport union has any doubt of my sincerity when it comes to my conviction about the trade union movement. It has been under severe attack over the years; it has had some major internal difficulties which it has resolved with some satisfaction all round, but it is in their own best interest and in the interest of the nation to give the grand plan put forward by the Minister for Finance an opportunity of making a meaningful impact in the coming year. I think they will reap the benefit.
This budget is significant in that for the first time ever it provides relief for the top income group, the people in the £3,000 to £7,000 or £8,000 income bracket. With the elimination of rates on dwellings, tax cuts, no tax on smaller cars and increased tax allowances, it is the first time in almost 20 years that the top income wage earner has had an opportunity of at least improving his standard of living. This is to be welcomed in that they themselves are very happy about it. This morning I called six telephone numbers in the Dublin 14 district at random. I asked how they felt things were going in the country generally and for themselves. Not one expressed any dissatisfaction about the manner in which Fianna Fáil have delivered on their manifesto undertakings.
