Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

This budget is designed to sustain the strength of the economy over the next few years, as well as making a further substantial contribution to a fairer and more socially friendly Ireland.

We are living in the midst of an astonishing period of national development. We are at last bringing about the realisation of the immense potential in the land and people of Ireland that generations of patriots hoped for and dreamed of, but which sadly they never lived to see.

This is a budget of commitments, meeting them and making them. It is a budget for workers, enterprise, pensioners and family. In the past 20 years, employment has virtually doubled to well over 2 million people. Involuntary emigration is a thing of the past. Instead fellow-EU citizens and some people of other nationalities have come to make their indispensable contribution to our economic life. We continue to have consistently the highest growth rate in the eurozone. Inflation has been held at low single figures, in line with the rest of Europe, despite much higher growth rates, and it is well controlled with the help of the social partners. From being one of the least healthy countries financially, our national debt relative to national income, after taking account of the national pension fund reserve, will be brought down to under 15% of GDP next year.

The budget is an entirely responsible one, designed not to overheat the economy and to give us a substantial safety margin if the existing environment should disimprove. External conditions permitting, uninterrupted momentum can be maintained through next year and beyond, provided our broad strategy is adhered to.

Yesterday's budget from the Minister for Finance, Deputy Cowen, marks not just another milestone towards substantial reform and development, it is, in key respects, the culmination of the coherent strategy of a series of budgets in recent years. Inevitably, public attention has concentrated on some of the specific measures announced in the budget. While these are important and worthy of comment, I want to focus this morning on the bigger picture, the results which our overall budgetary strategy is producing and the foundation which has been laid for further sustained progress in the years ahead.

I emphasise the extent to which I have always seen my Government's strategy as being at the service of our people, those who are working hard to raise their families and create the best possible future for their children, our entrepreneurs, who are building world-class businesses in the face of stiff world competition, our older people, who have seen far too many days of long struggle and hardship in the past and who now deserve comfort in their retirement, and our vulnerable and disadvantaged citizens, who badly need our support if they are to live with dignity.

There is no Government presumption in this. We know that the consistently good revenue performance of recent years is due to the new investment made in world-class projects, small and developing businesses, professional and business services, tourism ventures and farm and agribusiness across the country. It is due also to the hard work, flexibility and skill of the more than 2 million people at work in this State. We know that their efforts and those investment decisions need the right policy framework. The responsibility lies with Government to create that environment, through our economic policies, budgetary arrangements, our approach to flexible and smart regulation and our willingness to listen and respond. It is for Government to provide confidence in the future and in our capacity as a country to manage the relentless change sweeping the global economy.

Far from believing that it knows everything, the Government has been at pains to listen and to take on board what it hears. We listen to those struggling to compete in world markets, international investors who have options to locate major projects almost anywhere in the world and our universities and international research experts about how to create a new platform for knowledge-based activity. We listen to technical experts and project managers about how to get better value in our massive commitment to infrastructural improvement.

We listen in particular to the social partners. Earlier this year, we concluded a ground-breaking ten-year framework agreement with the social partners. We have continued and deepened the partnership process as the most effective way of marshalling all of our resources for the benefit of all our people. The Government knows what is required to sustain and develop this approach, which is the envy of governments and societies around the world, large and small, because they understand the critical part it has played in the Irish success story.

If there is arrogance in the Irish political system, it rests with those who think that democratic government has to be some sort of merry-go-round, where parties have an automatic entitlement to take their turn at the levers of government at regular intervals. Democracy does not involve any such entitlement that is not earned.

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