Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

My budget stance in recent years has been appropriate. I do not accept that the stance involved the building of permanent spending programmes with the benefits associated with improvements in economic performance, including surpluses. Much of the surplus beyond what was predicted was put towards reducing debt, and that is why our ratio of GDP to debt was practically halved in a ten-year period.

On the question of the implications for the future, no one, let alone members of the Deputy's party, predicted the current economic trends before the last election. That said, it is for the Government to manage the situation. Obviously, I do not believe one should dismantle current spending programmes and resile from capital programmes, as suggested in the Deputy's question.

See this speech in context