Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)

One need only look in my area to see what we are doing in the mid-west. We are investing in the western rail corridor; we are investing in the Atlantic corridor, which is the road network from Donegal to Waterford; we are investing in the tunnel under the Shannon; we have invested in the infrastructure of the airport, and we are continuing to do that. It is in this way that we will re-establish confidence in the economy. We are doing it in education. We are putting extra funding into the building programme this year to try to stimulate the economy. As Deputy Byrne said, it is mighty dangerous to start talking down the economy when inflation is reduced. Yes, it looks good, but when one goes below that threshold one moves into a downward spiral which has an entirely negative effect on the economy. The Government, in my view, is taking a very prudent approach. It is about rebalancing and economic stability.

We are also limiting borrowing. We have seen in the past the damage that large-scale borrowing for current spending has done. It effectively negates the efforts of the Government and future Governments to provide services for the citizens of the future who will be overburdened with debt if we are not able to manage at this time. We must move beyond this by taking decisive action which will lead to long-term stability. It will also help that we will be able to become more competitive as an economy. For far too long we have been losing good quality jobs in the IT sector and indeed in the semi-skilled and skilled manufacturing sectors to lower cost economies. There is an opportunity here for us to recalibrate our competitiveness and reduce our costs, but to do so in a way that does not damage the overall economy. We could not proceed with the kind of nonsense that is coming from the other side. Although there is a global downturn, Opposition Deputies are suggesting that we can just put our heads up and continue as before. That is a mighty foolish approach to take.

As Deputy Byrne said, inflation is coming down, and is below the EU average. Job creation is fundamental. We know that from our agencies: IDA Ireland, Enterprise Ireland and, in my region, Shannon Development. These do an exceptionally good job of targeting and encouraging investment, not just from indigenous companies, but also from the wider world in the form of foreign direct investment. We can see what has happened even in the last couple of days. There is a global economic crisis, yet in the last two or three weeks there have been announcements of significant numbers of jobs to be created in Cork and Wexford.

See this speech in context