Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)

Today we see the highest borrowing in this country for 22 years. We see the golden rule, of only borrowing for capital purposes, broken. Some 40% of the borrowing the Minister is planning to undertake will be spent on day to day spending, not on capital spending. The Minister is on course to double the national debt in less than four years. This will be the legacy of Deputy Brian Lenihan's tenure in this post as Minister of Finance.

Let us be quite blunt. It is not the bankers in Zurich or the mortgage lenders in Detroit who have brought us to this sorry pass. It is a Government that was cocky enough to claim credit for the good times and is not man enough to recognise its huge contribution to creating the property bubble and creating the difficulties that have plunged this economy into recession.

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