Tom Kitt (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)

I welcome this debate. As Chief Whip, I have responsibility for the Central Statistics Office and, consequently, am fortunate to be in a position to see the figures as they are compiled. In this case, Members are discussing the quarterly national household survey. While I am disappointed that we have not heard more ideas from the Opposition spokespersons, I make no apologies for making some remarks with regard to the Government's performance.

The recently published quarterly national household survey provides a most useful and detailed update on how the Irish economy is performing and on how the population is benefiting from ongoing growth and development. I listened with interest to a radio interview with a representative of the International Monetary Fund, IMF, on Monday, concerning the recent report of the IMF into the performance of the economy. He clearly stated on at least two occasions, that the success of the Irish economy was due in large part to sound management of the economy by the Government over the past ten to 15 years.

It would be useful to reflect on the cornerstones and pillars of what is a new Ireland. Admittedly, it is an Ireland that is at times bewildering in its complexities and challenges. However, to listen to the Opposition in recent months, a stranger would be forgiven for thinking that the country was teetering on collapse and about to re-enter a former dark and gloomy period. It is a truism to suggest that the days of doom and gloom in the recent past in Ireland only come to mind when thinking of the Opposition parties and their sporadic attempts at government.

When one considers this country's achievements in the past 18 years of almost exclusively Fianna Fáil-led Governments, one striking policy above all others has worked to ensure continued and sustained success since the late 1980s. It has given birth to a new Ireland and has enabled it to grow, prosper and develop. That policy is one of partnership.

The policy of partnership, in which all the social partners including businesses, farmers, employers, trade unions, workers and the unemployed collectively agree on our future, has been firmly in place not simply for a couple of years in a single programme, but for several programmes, spanning almost two decades. I am proud to state that Fianna Fáil, introduced this overwhelmingly inclusive policy that has resulted in gains for everyone. This partnership approach has enabled us to manage rapid change successfully and to build popular support for the steps necessary to achieve continued growth and employment. More than ever, Ireland now needs the continued stability that such partnership provides.

I heard Deputies Eamon Ryan and Howlin discuss the need to view Ireland as a society and not as an economy. I assure them that Members on the Government side of the House view this country as a society. However, I suggest to both Deputies that people living in a society require jobs. We need taxes to pay for the services required in health, education and elsewhere. We are as much concerned about quality of life issues as the Opposition Deputies. I note again that I have heard little in the way of ideas from the Opposition Deputies today.

This new Ireland is a better place because of the talent, creativity, hard work and enterprise of the Irish people and a Government that works with them. This policy of partnership, solidarity and many other enlightened policies has resulted in Ireland coming of age and it is seen by many developing economies as a model to be emulated.

Over a period totalling almost 18 years and during our recent concurrent period in office of eight years and running, the enlightened policies of Fianna Fáil and its partners on health, enterprise, investment, taxation, transport, social, sporting and cultural affairs and on the building of community services have brought us to where we are today. It is no accident that a generation of young people has grown up and prospered never having known an elected Fine Gael-Labour coalition. It is a generation since a Fine Gael-Labour coalition was elected to govern this country and it was a period marked by economic darkness and depression, a time of lurching from crisis to crisis and instability. It is no accident that all the gains, the growth, the unfulfilled potential and the dormant ambition that lay untapped has flowered in the intervening period while Fianna Fáil-led Governments took the courageous and often painful decisions necessary to turn the country around and went on to build and manage the prosperity of the nation.

The short-lived so-called rainbow coalition that was in Government from 1994-97 briefly reaped the reward of others' hard labour and the claims to the contrary are totally unsustainable and without foundation. The truth is that the foundations had been firmly laid for this rainbow Government by each of the three preceding Fianna Fáil-led Governments. What has been built on those solid foundations? Since 1997 alone, more than 450,000 new jobs have been created. A staggering one in every four jobs in Ireland has been created during the lifetime of this Government.

It is accurate to state that in Ireland we have achieved virtually full employment and this year has seen employment pass the 2 million mark for the first time. The scale of the turn around is dramatic and is too easily forgotten. Ireland has an unmatched rate of unemployment, half the European average. We have been in the favourable position of being able to offer employment to nearly 200,000 people who have moved here from overseas to find employment and make their contribution. At 4.2%, our unemployment rate is half the EU average and less than half the rate it was in 1997.

There are many statistics in the quarterly national household survey that merit closer scrutiny and commentary. The number in employment has grown this year so far by 93,000, which is an additional 93,000 people working and taking home pay. This is the highest annual growth rate recorded since the second quarter of 2000. Therefore, this year witnessed a record growth in the labour force, even greater than the phenomenal growth experienced in the late 1990s. It is important to note that the increases in employment were almost universal, with increases recorded in construction, financial and other business services. In the BMW region, employment is up 5.7% or 26,600 people.

Since 1997, this Government has halved the national debt and we consequently pay €1 billion less in interest than in 1997. It was this Government that created the National Pension Reserve Fund so that our citizens could look forward to a comfortable retirement in future years.

There are many areas of dramatic improvement and growth worth mentioning but I will limit myself in the context of this debate to the dramatic leaps made in the arena of education since 1997. The statistics speak for themselves, namely, over 4,500 additional teachers, including 3,000 resource teachers, the lowest class sizes in the history of Irish education, in excess of 30,000 new college places, 6,000 special needs assistants, all Irish schools have access to the Internet and we are on target to deliver broadband to all schools within months. Department of Education and Science funding for research, which stood at zero in 1997, is now over €500 million. This is without mentioning all the improvements, extensions, new buildings, refurbishments and sports halls that have been built within that period.

Yes, there are challenges and obstacles and, yes, sometimes we do get it wrong but we have a record of achievements that matches our aspirations. We know what needs to be done and have plans and programmes in place to implement our policies.

Aside from aspiring to office, what plans has the Opposition to speak of? We have heard none today. This country was on its economic knees 18 years ago and violent conflict was the order of the day. Since then, the longest and largest period of sustained economic growth in our history has made us the envy of developing countries and of wealthy countries alike. The peace process is alive and the war is over.

We are rightly proud of our record of achievements but we do not let it blind us to the challenges that lie ahead, of which there are many. Almost all indicators on the Irish economy in 2005 point to further strong growth in domestic activity. Consumer spending has picked up momentum, investment is also gaining strongly, especially business investment, while housing activity remains buoyant. It now seems likely that housing completions this year will match 2004's record figure of 77,000. Deputy Eamon Ryan asked whether we need these but I will ask him to talk with some of the first-time buyers and young people who need them desperately.

Tax receipts also rose strongly in the first nine months of 2005, reflecting our robust economic performance. Employment growth, good fiscal policy, generous tax cuts and social welfare increases in the last budget have also contributed to a healthy economy. We in Government are proud of what we have done and achieved in working with others to build the new Ireland. We are well aware of the unfinished business that needs to be addressed.

We have heard absolutely nothing from the Opposition about its vision for the future. We have heard no new ideas or policies or initiatives or how they plan to pay for them. We on this side of the House have a very clear vision for the future of our country, which has been articulated many times by the Taoiseach, Deputy Bertie Ahern. I concur wholeheartedly with the Taoiseach when he says he wants Ireland to be: "A good country in which to live, to work, to invest, to grow up in and to grow old in, a country that has the potential to enjoy a truly great economy and a truly great society".

This Government has worked in partnership with others to realise this vision. I have no doubt that when we all face the electorate in 2007, we will be given a mandate to continue in Government, to build on the unprecedented progress already made and to fulfil the potential of this country and of its people.

A Labour Party Deputy spoke about the spatial strategy and asked what other cities are developing throughout this country. I remind the House that, apart from Dublin, there are cities such as Galway in my native county, which has become the medical device capital of the west and Europe, Limerick, Waterford, where financial services are thriving, Cork and many others.

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