Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

The contraction began in late 2006. Our difficulties in the last six months stem from an international phenomenon which everybody in the country can see on their television screen every evening. It is a world economic crisis. Regarding the question I neglected to answer, I do not propose to increase taxes for the next financial year because any increase in taxation above what is envisaged in the budget would considerably damage the economy. I said this the last time we were at Question Time together. The capital programme envisaged in the budget is our investment programme for next year. It is our economic stimulus and we must preserve it to help sustain levels of economic activity in the economy.

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