All through the debate great stress has been laid on what was said during the recent election and the promises made during the election have been related to the Budget. It would be well that Deputies on the opposite benches should realise that the Parties on this side have formed the Government, rightly or wrongly, consciously or unconsciously, by the votes of the people. Therefore, it is not good policy on the part of the Party opposite to use such terms as "satellites", "conglomeration of Parties", "splinter Parties", "Fine Gael Parties", which have been used all through the debate. It will be agreed by all sensible men in the House and by the people generally that if this country is to make any progress in solving such problems as unemployment and housing, it will require the goodwill and co-operation of the Government, of the members of the Party opposite and of the people generally if any progress is to be made. It would be a mere waste of time for any Government to try to cure these problems unless they have that goodwill and co-operation.
This country is too small: it is comprised of less than three million souls. If you take out the women and the children you will find that the wealth of this country depends upon the productive capacity of about 700,000 souls. It is a great record to say that, in addition to carrying on our ordinary operations in industry or commercial life, we can afford to subscribe almost £68,000,000 per annum by way of taxation. That is equivalent to almost £2,500,000 per county. Just imagine the smallest little county—County Louth—having to put up £2,500,000 per annum in order to carry on the Government. Therefore the present Minister for Finance deserves great congratulation on having selected the road that will lead us eventually to a reduction of the taxation that has existed during the past 15 or 16 years. Every man of common sense knows that high taxation is not conducive to providing or increasing employment. I would ask the members of the Opposition in particular, and the members of the InterParty Government as well, to remember that this little country is not a great empire with vast resources at its disposal. It has done very well through difficult and dangerous times during the last 15 years. This old country, Dark Rosaleen, in my opinion requires a little rest, a little breathing space, so that she can rehabilitate and recuperate herself so as to be in a better position to give a little more comfort to those who find themselves uncomfortable.
There is not much point in referring to the promises made by Clann na Poblachta, the Labour Parties, or others. It is an old saying that the wise man changes his opinion, the fool never. There has been a reduction in the Budget and that is good business from the national point of view. The fact that the Minister has saved £6,000,000 or £8,000,000 does not mean that he is putting that money into his pocket or locking it in some hole or secret corner in the country. It means in effect that instead of taking that £8,000,000 into the common basket, to be doled out by civil servants at great cost, he is leaving that money to be diffused amongst the population. That is good business. I am sure the people with whom that money is left will apply it and make greater use of it than if it were put into the National Exchequer to be doled out according as it appeared expedient to the Government.
There may be certain things which one could criticise. One is the increased tax on petrol and the other is the unemployment contribution that will have to be paid by workers and employers. Beyond that, on the whole, this is a very good Budget. Reference has been made to the fact that the Government does not propose to proceed with the saving of turf to the same extent as it was proceeded with during the last seven or eight years. I would remind Deputies that wars make many changes, not alone in this country, but in all countries. Some people make fortunes as a result of the outbreak of war, while other people lose fortunes. Some people make fortunes when the war ends and others lose them. Certain people get employment when war breaks out and the same people lose employment when war ends. That is not peculiar to this country: it is universal. I would remind, especially Deputies who represent Galway and Mayo and other turfproducing counties, that I myself, as Deputy for Louth, could have criticised the Government during the six years of the war, because there were hundreds of dockers in Dundalk who never turned a shovel during those six years. I did not do that, as I knew it was not the Government's fault: they could not bring in cargoes of coal when the coal was not to be had.
In the same manner, I cannot see why the Deputies of Galway and Mayo should criticise the Government now because they are not producing turf at the same rate as during the war. Do those who speak in that strain expect that the people along the eastern sea-board, if they wish to use coal, are not entitled to get that coal, more especially in view of the fact that they have to keep up their harbours at great expense? That applies along the whole eastern seaboard—Dundalk, Drogheda, Wexford and also to Limerick, Cork, Tralee, Ballina and Sligo. There will be increased trade going into those ports, more or less at the expense of the turf-cutting areas. But that is what war does: war has no respect for persons or nations. I am of opinion that the whole turf criticism has been magnified out of all proportion to the situation as it really exists. Though I am not in a turf area, I can apply the experience gained in other directions to what the position is in reality in those counties. Everyone knows that, as a result of the boom in the turf business during those years, the small farmers of Galway went into it 100 per cent. over and above what they did prior to the outbreak of war. If this turf industry is not being carried on to the same extent now, it does not mean they are going to starve, but simply that they will make less money than they made before. They are not going to starve. They lived before this boom came and, please God, they will live after it.
In further connection with that I want to say, as a working man who knows as much as any other man, that I do not think it is good policy to be asking the Government to provide work for men overnight simply because they happen to lose their work as a result of the war being finished. I do not believe in that. I myself had to travel the roads and the towns and the cities of this country when I had no work with my boss. I did not go across the water to the then Minister for Industry and Commerce, whoever he may have been. I went like a man and looked for work. There is too much of this kind of thing going on—everybody who loses employment thinks that the Minister for Industry and Commerce has got to provide him with alternative employment overnight. No Government can do that. Employment can only be provided through the goodwill and co-operation of the workers, employers, and all concerned. That is the only way the problem can be solved.
Take the case of housing as applied to this Budget. I should like to refer to a few facts and to reiterate the appeal that has been made in this House by the Minister and which, unfortunately to the detriment of this country, has been and will be misrepresented all over the country. I refer to his appeal for the stabilisation of wages and salaries. As a working man I reiterate that appeal. I consider that we cannot stabilise prices until we stabilise the costs of production. That is especially applicable to the question of houses. The Government must provide money in this Budget to provide houses —and God knows the people for whom the majority of these houses will be built are not millionaires; they are our own class, kith and kin. They are very poor people—some of them on the dole. In connection with this matter of increased prices I would ask how, in the name of common sense, is a man on the dole or with two or three pounds a week going to pay 15/- or £1 a week rent for houses which, at the moment, cannot be put up under a minimum cost of at least £1,000. The same types of houses could have been built some 30 or 40 years ago for £120. There must be reason in all these things.
I would appeal to everyone in this country who at the moment is fairly comfortable to be content with his position so as to enable whatever Minister for Finance may be here to make the people who are at present uncomfortable a little more comfortable. That is the real Christian spirit which should permeate throughout the length and breadth of this country. There is no other way to succeed if we want to improve the position of thousands of our people here who have to live on fixed incomes—not to mention the old age pensioner, the widow, and all the other sections of our people who are not getting increases commensurate with the cost of living and will not get them so long as certain sections are selfish enough to look for everything and, as the saying goes, give little thought to the position of the poorer sections of our people. Therefore, whether I am misrepresented or not, I agree with the Minister in his appeal. Some people seem to be afraid to speak in that strain because they might be twitted that they want to reduce the salaries or wages. I do not want to reduce the salaries or wages. Neither does the Minister nor, in fact, does any Deputy of this House. But there is such a thing as reason and there is such a thing as the capacity of this country and its present resources. This little country is not a vast empire with great resources behind it. We all know what it is—an island in the Atlantic. Being an island it cannot expand one yard and it has got to live directly within its own confines. Therefore, whether or not we have in this House a very strong Opposition Party, I would appeal to them to remember their responsibilities to the people.
Although you are not the Government to-day you represent a very large section of our people, due to the numbers of your party in this House. If you want this country to succeed, if you want it to overcome the difficulties that lie ahead, and there are difficulties lying ahead, whether you look at it from the economic, industrial or commercial sphere, you will have to work in harmony with the Government that is in power. That Government has been elected by the people. We, who were members of the House, did not look for a general election. It was held 18 months before it should have been held. The only man responsible for our being in office to-day is the ex-Taoiseach, Deputy Eamon de Valera, and every honest Deputy on the far side must admit that. We are here as the Government by the votes of the people, and we ask for and are entitled to receive from the Opposition a little sympathy and a recognition of the difficult task which we have to face. We want a little of the same co-operation which we gave when in opposition. There are Deputies listening to me who in the past actually complimented me on my remarks in this House when the late Government was in power. I want the same spirit now from the Deputies opposite. There is no need to run away from your principles in doing that. You are not doing it for the Minister for Finance or for the Government. You are doing it for the country, in which we are all interested.
Taking it all round, I think it will be agreed that this is a good Budget in the sense that it has reduced taxation. I believe reduced taxation will add to the prosperity of this country. It will give a little encouragement to those people who are engaged in industry, and who have to give employment, that the amount of money to be taken from them this year will be less than it has been in previous years. I am not here to criticise unduly the late Government. I was always prepared to admit that anything they did was done by them in the conviction that it was in the best interests of the people. The people have now decided otherwise. Therefore I ask the members of the Opposition, for the sake of this country, to give the same co-operation and to extend the same sympathy to the Government as we extended to them when they were in power.
