Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I remember a time when the Taoiseach used to come into the House and was the ultimate straight talker. He would answer a question like the one he has been asked by saying "Yes, we are in a recession" or "No, we are not in a recession". Now we have Department of Finance figures of speech surrounding his responses.

The Taoiseach said a number of months ago that it was wrong to talk ourselves down into a depressionary or recessionary cycle and that this was inappropriate because the economy was still performing strongly. It is untrue to say that what is happening is all due to international circumstances. There have been warning signs, which were pointed out by Deputy Bruton over the past two years and by others, but the Taoiseach did not take cognisance of those when Minister for Finance. We are now in a position where the former straight talking Minister, the Brian Cowen of old, is no longer present in the Chamber. He is now a Taoiseach constrained by the current circumstances. I go so far as to say that he has demonstrated and proven over the past number of years, in his capacity as Minister for Finance, that he was neither qualified nor able to run the economy in the way people expected.

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