Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)

We were told for two years that subordinated debt could not be touched. We have to work with our partners in this. The lender of last resort is this country and that will continue to be the case until we restore market confidence in our ability to resell our debt and reduce our bond ratios.

Senator Bradford made one of the most important points in this debate when he reminded us of the need to learn the lessons of the past. Garret FitzGerald and the Labour Party in the period between 1981 and 1987 were given a mandate to fix a problem but they failed to do the heavy lifting. We have collectively learned from that experience. I do not wish to undermine in any way the great contribution Dr. FitzGerald has made on a host of subjects, from the redefinition of Irish nationalism to his constitutional crusade for a more open and tolerant society, but on the economic issues we did not do it and we have to learn from our mistakes. It has to be done in an ordered, sensible, constrained way. As Senator O'Toole said, our ambition is to reach the deficit 3% target by 2015. As he is aware, in the programme we will review the matter as the end of the two year period to see where we see the economy going in light of the experience of the past two years. I agree with Senator Bradford that this situation has to be fixed once and for all, otherwise this country will have a decade of a lack of investment, no hope for young people who leave college and a sense of absolute hopelessness. That is something we cannot countenance.

Senator Boyle spoke about the stringent conditions of the memorandum. Before and during the course of the election we said it was the ambition of this Government to renegotiate the deal. We have seen some success in terms of the memorandum which will be published, I understand, on 16 May following the troika meeting of last week. The Government has announced that we have inserted into the memorandum areas where we believe we can stimulate employment. Whether it is called a jobs budget or initiative is irrelevant, as far as I am concerned. Measures can be taken to grow the economy to get people back to work and make it more productive for employers to take people on and vice versa. We have shown quickly that we have introduced some renegotiation. We have made it abundantly clear that the overall burden and targets have not changed but that there can be changes within the context of the memorandum to help stimulate the domestic economy and create some hope within it. That is an important first step. Last week Mr. Chopra said we have reached our targets comfortably in terms of the first quarter and fiscal position.

The sense of hopelessness has to be replaced with a sense of hope. I know that is the view of colleagues on all sides of the House, no matter what political position or party from which one comes. Hope comes from a sense of confidence, doing things quickly, making decisions early in the life of the Government and doing, as one colleague said, things in the first 100 days because if they are not done then, they might not be done at all. We have learned that from experience. We will continue to do that and colleagues can be assured that is the frame of mind the Government is in, namely, to make decisions quickly and to instil hope that there is a way out of the straitjacket in which we find ourselves. I do not believe that harping back to the past will create one extra job in this economy. The past is the past. The people have had their say, made their verdict and given the new Government an extraordinary mandate to fix the problems within this economy. There is honest support in this House, as I am sure there will be in the new Seanad when it is returned, for the Government's efforts to build confidence and get this great country going again.

I reiterate my thanks to all colleagues on both sides of the House for their work in what was a very difficult working environment over the past four and a half years, given the enormous financial pressures the country has faced. I wish those who are standing down or retiring well. I especially wish all my colleagues on both sides of the House who are contesting what has to be the most complicated, bizarre and difficult electoral process in western Europe every success next week.