Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)

That downturn was occasioned by the extraordinary and horrible events of 11 September in the United States, especially at the twin towers in New York. Following that, we applied the brakes because there was a perception globally that growth would be stalled, paralysed or reversed. In fact, that did not take place. There was a sudden Exchequer downturn in that case from which we emerged rather quickly. I remember well how instantly unpopular Mr. McCreevy became because of his decision to apply the brakes to public spending at the time and to exercise what I term "due caution" in respect of the international outlook at the time.

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