Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

We are involved in the greatest ever investment in infrastructure in this country. When we came to power €320 million was being spent on national roads. The budget for 2009 is €1.9 billion. We were spending something paltry like €12 million on railways, but now we are making major investment in light and heavy rail throughout the country. We have provided our citizens with one of the best social welfare systems and pension rates anywhere in the developed world. Anybody who is used to dealing with people from other jurisdictions, when he or she examines what people get, realises how good our social welfare system is. That is where the money was spent and if that is what the Opposition Members consider wasting money, let them stand on their record. We were right to invest the money in these different ways and it was prudent.

I also recognise this budget was difficult for people. In the past ten years we have had the luxury of unprecedented economic growth. Year after year on budget day we could give more and more and were always able to give more than we took away. However, no matter how high the mountain, people want to go one step higher. It is a human desire. Therefore, I fully accept it was a shock to people this year that in the difficult budget we had to announce yesterday we had to ask the taxpayer for more than we could give. That was necessary to protect into the long-term, distant future the quality of the services we have developed and, particularly, to protect the vulnerable.

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