Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)

——all of which had a major impact on the international climate.

This is coupled with the fact that we have come to the end of the boom years. Everyone accepts that the rapid growth of the past ten years was not sustainable. Listening to the Opposition, one would think we had squandered the boom years. This has been the mantra from commentators. Let us put this in perspective. In 1997, the national debt was 64% of GDP; it is now 25%, and if one includes the pension reserve fund it is 12%. What we did in the past ten years was to unburden the next generation of debt and borrowings with which previous generations had burdened my generation.

The Government has consistently run budget surpluses and reduced the national debt in good times. It has also brought forward ambitious national development plans. Going around the country and seeing infrastructural development, investment in education, health services and other key developments, one would have to acknowledge that the national development plan has been successful to date. The continued spending by the Government on the next phase is something of which I am proud, as a member of the one of the Government parties.

When everyone states that we are in a recessionary crisis, it undermines confidence. The basic reality is that we have a sound economy with a large employment base. Over 2 million people are working, whereas in 1997 it was 1.3 million. In recent times we have achieved a great deal.

The package announced yesterday to ensure we remain within spending limits is a sensible way to address this. I would be interested to read the comments of the leader of the Labour Party. I do not accept his comments that this is a problem in the private sector, with the public sector now carrying the can. One cannot take either sector in isolation. We have had a social partnership process since 1997 and it has stood the country in good stead for many years. Difficult decisions were made in previous times and policies were developed of which we now enjoy the fruits. Those representing the public sector do not want a situation where the private sector is ignored and all the burden is placed on one sector of the economy. We cannot live in isolation. I am hopeful that, over the coming weeks, the social partners will recognise the new reality, particularly in the context of the new, structured pay deal in the private and public sector. I am confident that the resourcefulness and imagination of the social partners will ensure a pay deal with the new realities that exist.

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