When I reported progress I was mentioning, in relation to the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, which comes under this Appropriation Bill, that I consider it necessary immediately to put into effect more stringent regulations than the present regulations to protect this country against the cattle plague known as "foot and mouth disease". An outbreak here would affect our economy to a far greater extent than it would affect the British economy. So far, the British have lost approximately 250,000 animals—cattle, sheep, pigs and other animals that must be slaughtered under the law of the land when this disease enters a farm. If we lost anything like that number of animals in this country, or had 2,000 outbreaks—the number is almost 2,000 outbreaks now in Great Britain—there would be a national financial crisis because of the importance of the livestock industry to our country and to our economy. It would put out of business many other organisations indirectly associated with the livestock trade. We can easily call to mind the various trades which are immediately dependent on the cattle industry—the slaughter of cattle, the sale of cattle and the export of cattle.
The revenue which the export of cattle on the hoof, and canned, brings in represents a very large part of the total value of our exports. Therefore, I consider that the Government ought to get in touch with the British Minister of Agriculture and with the British Government about precautions in Britain so far as people leaving for Ireland is concerned. If people are allowed to come here, some will certainly be arriving from infected areas. Many of them may be farm workers in areas in Britain where the disease is rampant.
For that reason, I suggest that the disinfection process should begin at the stage where such people begin their journeys. If we consider it desirable to allow people from Britain to come into the country at this stage of the crisis—that is what it has become—we should take very stringent precautions that the disease will not be carried in. The arrival of one person carrying this virulent germ would be enough to start its spread throughout the country. It has spread throughout the greater part of England and it has taken them a very long time to control its spread.
Therefore, we should not take any risks. We should implement very strictly any precautions we consider necessary. Of course, because it takes the virus three weeks after infection to show itself, we shall not know until three weeks have passed whether our efforts have been successful so far. It may be here already. That is the situation in which we find ourselves and that is why more stringent precautions should be implemented at this stage when, we are led to believe, many of our kith and kin will be returning to visit their relatives during the Christmas holidays. I was glad to learn that the Irish Ambassador in London has tried to impress on Irish people, and others who might decide to visit us, that it would be a patriotic thing to stay in England until the epidemic has died down.
This Appropriation Bill involves a sum of £279 million, a colossal sum for a country with a population of fewer than three million people. Under the inter-Party Government, when a generous housing campaign was undertaken involving a good deal of finance, and when the annual sum reached £100 million, I remember that Fianna Fáil said the last straw had been piled on, that the country could not afford £100 million. Of course, under successive Fianna Fáil Governments in the meantime, the value of money has dropped dramatically, its purchasing power has dropped, and, therefore, the £279 million we are now discussing would not represent the same value as £100 million when the inter-Party were in office.
We must remember that though we have reached that very high figure, the present incidence of taxation is 25 per cent higher than the figure which had been forecast for 1970 in the Second Programme for Economic Expansion. In other words, two years ahead of time, our taxation is 25 per cent higher than was envisaged in the Second Programme. I know that Programme has collapsed. It did not achieve any of the targets set. We hear members of Fianna Fáil boasting that this year our productivity will have risen by four per cent. They regard this as a great achievement. We must remember it was only one per cent last year, and if we average it over the other years the targets have not been reached, particularly in relation to the provision of more jobs.
Much of this is the result of the financial gymnastics in which the Fianna Fáil Party were engaging during the latter part of 1964 and the early part of 1965, all designed to win the Cork and Kildare by-elections and later the general election. Immediately following the elections, we had deflation which caused great difficulty and strain in our economy. In 1966 it was necessary to introduce a second Budget in order to put our financial position right. That was trickery on the part of Fianna Fáil because they must have known when the Budget was being introduced in the spring of 1966 what the requirements were for the financial year. However, there was a Presidential election coming up, so they brought in half of the Budget before that election and the remainder after it.
Anyway, it all amounts to tricking on the part of Fianna Fáil with the country's finances. Now, as a result of the rectification of the economy, which it was necessary for Fianna Fáil to do, they are boasting that the economy is again on a level keel. The result of it all is that it was the wage earner, the savings of our people, who had to pay for those financial gymnastics—not the Fianna Fáil Party.
We have reached another serious situation in relation to the health services. The present high cost of these services is the talk of the country. When the Health Act was introduced by Senator Dr. Ryan, he was asked how much it would cost and he said 1/6 or 2/- in the £ on the rates. Now every ratepayer knows the cost of the health services is the highest charge on the rate demand notes. It exceeds even road maintenance charges. At that time, people thought the cost of roads was very high and complained bitterly about it. It was suggested roads should be made a national charge.
Now we have a situation in which the health services are costing the ratepayers more than road maintenance. It was suggested a long time ago that the health services should be made a national charge. Apparently the Fianna Fáil Party are quite happy to leave this burden on the shoulders of the ratepayers and let the figure go up higher every year. Next year in the Dublin area it is expected that the rates will go up at least 11/- in the £ in relation to the health services alone, apart from any other services which may cause the rate in the £ to be increased.
Then we have the promise of the White Paper from the Government in relation to the health services. They are hesitating about that but the ratepayers are still being salted for the payment of those health charges when many of them cannot even benefit from the heavy subscription which they make towards the operation of those services. It is a well-known fact that there are many people who find it necessary to protect themselves by taking out what is known as a voluntary health insurance in relation to their own health. While they do so they are still paying heavily out of their pockets, their earnings and their wages towards the implementation of health services which are bringing no benefit to them. Those to whom those health services apply also have reason to complain about the shortcomings of those services and about the manner in which they are administered so far as many of them are concerned, particularly when they find that in order to get those free services they are compelled to make a contribution towards these services which they cannot afford.
I feel it is time for the Government to make a pronouncement in relation to the White Paper regarding health services. They cannot leave it tucked away forever while the ratepayers in the meantime are shouldering this burden. It is possible, for instance, that this White Paper advocated that the health services should be a national charge. It may have been recommended that the citizens should make a specific contribution towards the financing of the health services. Whatever the Government White Paper has recommended it is about time for the Government, first of all, to publish it, and, secondly, to set about implementing it.
Fine Gael have already published what they considered to be the most desirable type of financial arrangement for health services in this country. Unfortunately, the Government are not so quick about acting on it as they were in relation to the educational policy, which was published by Fine Gael before the Government announced their policy in relation to education. Of course, their policy was announced only in respect of primary and secondary education. Fine Gael announced their policy in relation to the whole of education.