Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)

The Minister says that we must be strategic and he is right. I would like him to read the comments in The Irish Catholic by the architect of that strategic thinking which brought us economic success, Dr. Ken Whitaker. He said that economic growth does not necessarily lead to a peaceful, civilised or more idealistic society, and that there are values, moral and intellectual, which are higher than mere economics. If only this Government would listen to that strategic thinking. We certainly need wealth but we need it to be shared out so that we can live in a successful, civilised, peaceful society.

Government Members thought they would have an easy ride today and be able to claim that we are doing brilliantly. It is interesting to hear the strong and consistent message from different speakers today stating that while these statistics tell a tale of economic success, they also tell us a tale of a society that is deeply unhappy with the way the Government is leading the country.

My wife is currently in the workplace. She is at home with our children. I do not see that work as any different or less valuable — it is more valuable — than the work that I am doing here. However, that work is not valued by this Government. The Minister has just stated that we must get people into the workforce, regardless of the future that leaves for the children in our country. The child care policy of the Progressive Democrats certainly could have been written by IBEC, setting the needs of our children in the context of the workforce, rather than vice versa. Such an approach is not only wrong, but in the long run it corrodes and eats into the social capital upon which a successful economy depends.

The Government should stop the constant mantra that we need people in the workforce to keep the economy growing, as if economic growth in itself was exactly the thing we need. It is clear that such is not the case. I celebrate the arrival of so many immigrants into Ireland in recent years, but I do not want to see it planned on the basis of doing all we can to make sure that economic growth continues.

I am not sure that it is clever, although Fianna Fáil would think so, that we are building 70,000 housing units per annum on the basis that it is good for the building industry. We will engage in an incredibly difficult balancing act by keeping this pump-primed economy going. I fear that if we just solely concentrate on pumping economic growth, if at some stage there is a property collapse, we will have a far more dramatic downturn because we have followed this mantra to keep the economy growing at full speed.

Deputy Burton referred to the lack of transport, which we have raised for 15 years in the House. It is not just on the west side of the city that this Government has failed, with the Calcutta express running through Clonsilla. I am sure the Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach, Deputy Kitt, is aware that already, people must also be forced into carriages on the Luas in the mornings because the system cannot cope with the sheer demand for public transport. At the same time, the Government spends four times more on new roads than on public transport. It will postpone the public transport projects again in its updated transport plan.

The consistent message from the Opposition side of the House is that while our economy has done well and the statistics show massive growth, it is clear the Government is getting other essential aspects of governance fundamentally wrong.

Clearly the manner in which this wealth is shared out is not working and does not lead to everyone enjoying the prosperity that these figures suggest. It is fine for the Progressive Democrats, who represent the wealthiest 5% of the population. It is fine for Fianna Fáil, who represent the building and developers' community, the people who have benefited by far the most. However, while the vast majority of the people welcome the fact that there is not emigration like in the 1980s or the kind of poverty that scarred this country for so long, they are unwilling to pay the price, in terms of imbalances and pressures, to keep the wealthiest people and the building community happy in the future.

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