Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

——but let us be fair. It is not a case of this economy suddenly becoming a bad economy. It is facing difficulties and there are reasons for that. I accept that some of them are domestic but others are international, from which we cannot be immune. Ultimately, however, we can still get back to growth in the economy and build on those achievements on the basis of trying to provide as fair a budgetary policy as possible, which will be outlined by the Minister for Finance, as we begin that journey. It will not be resolved today but we will begin that journey and find a pathway back to economic recovery on the basis of solid achievements which have not evaporated, despite the rhetoric of the Opposition.

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