Mr. Mark Griffin:

That is one perspective on it. The Taoiseach himself said when he spoke to the European Parliament at the start of the year that we were a laggard. The definition of laggard means slow progress. I am not denying that there has been slow progress but there is a whole range of reasons why progress has been slow over the last number of years. When we set our targets in 2009 it was just ahead of the biggest economic recession that this State experienced. Unemployment went from just over 4% to 15.6% and GDP plummeted. It is important to make these points because members are making sweeping statements. We had to ensure that when we came out of the processes on effort sharing regulation, that the demands on the Irish economy and the Irish people were fair, achievable, affordable and cost effective.