Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will mention one other matter. Far it be from me to diagnose the ills of our country, but one of the things we need to realise is that we had a very well-distributed budget or, at least, as well distributed as could be done in the circumstances prevailing at the time. To listen to commentators in some quarters, you would swear that the economy was broken and that people were all starving. Yes, some people are in difficulty. We recognise that and it has to be dealt with. It is not fair to say, however, and it is not a true reflection of the economy, that everything is going bad and we are on a race to nowhere.

At the end of the day, we are managing the economy, as are the Government and the people. The people are no fools either. They will do what they have to do, whenever it comes. Incidentally, they do not like being referred to as it they are on brink of starvation every day. There are people who are on the fringes of our society and we have to deal with that. That is our responsibility but we should not condemn everybody as being in that boat. We need to do all that has to be done in order to improve the lot for all without drawing upon us a kind of syndrome to the effect that we are all on the brink and will go back to where we were before, at the financial crash.