Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

There are no prizes for knowing what the question will be today. The Taoiseach said in this House six months ago that the economy would grow by 3% in 2008, that over 24,000 new jobs would be created and that inflation would be held to 2.4%. He was wrong on the first, second and third counts. The economy will shrink this year, we are losing hundreds of jobs every day, there are an extra 40,000 people on the dole since last Christmas and prices are now rising by 4.5%. The Minister for Finance is astonished at the mess he has been left to clean up. We are now hearing talk about prudent action, resoluteness, comprehension and detailed activity from the Government to sort out this problem.

In advance of using all the rhetoric, it would help if the Taoiseach actually identified what the problem is. In that regard, can I ask him a straight question? Are we in a recession?

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