Frank Feighan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I remember this time three years ago when the ECB and IMF came to town. It was a very dark day for the country. I am not telling stories out of turn about our parliamentary party, but at our parliamentary party meeting on that day Fine Gael Senators and Deputies were incensed. Fine Gael is the party that fought for the State and set up and defended the institutions of State. We were incensed, but I saw real leadership in the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, that day. He turned to us and said we could take on the IMF, the European Central Bank and the European Union, but we would lose. He went on to say what we were going to do.

I am delighted that three years later, through the direction of the Minister for Finance; the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Brendan Howlin; the Minister of State, Deputy Brian Hayes; the Taoiseach; the Tánaiste and a Government that worked cohesively, we have waved goodbye to the troika. As Members know, the country was under huge pressure; unemployment was on the rise; the banks were in crisis, and competitiveness had declined dramatically. Our reputation with the European Union had been shattered. We saw speculation in various areas and the property market and failed to support manufacturing and farming, an indigenous industry which effectively ensures we can have an export led economy.

What is happening now? We are talking about knocking down ghost estates, many of which are in my constituency of Roscommon-Leitrim. One wonders why a Government should knock down houses that are half built. However, when one looks at the price of houses in my constituency, one can see, as Deputy Michael Colreavy will agree, that a brand new three bedroom house can be bought for €40,000 and an apartment for €20,000. After years of being told there was no future in farming or manufacturing and that the real future was in banking and financial markets, we are in a situation where the Government and local authorities must knock down half built estates. This is probably the best solution because the cost of a new house in these areas ranges only from €30,000 to €35,000. This shows where we are now.

Fine Gael has delivered on all of the 260 actions under the ECB-IMF programme. I commend the Ministers, Deputies Michael Noonan and Brendan Howlin, and everybody else who has helped to get us out of the mess so far. There is a long way to go, but much work has been done.

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