Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)

The reality is that Fine Gael and Labour are trying to hoodwink the Irish people with a set of populist con-job policies that would drive the country into deeper recession. They are abusing their positions of responsibility by dodging the tough policy decisions that must be taken to get this country out of severe economic difficulties.

In times like these, Ireland does not need fair weather supporters. We need credible, realistic alternatives and politicians who will stand up and be counted. This Government is standing up for the Irish people and for the generations who will follow us.

As a Government led by the Taoiseach, we have achieved much in the past 13 months, not least in education. It might be news to Sinn Féin but we are already investing €614 million in the school building programme and €162 million in new on-campus buildings in third level institutions. In addition to dramatically improving our physical educational infrastructure, we will create almost 5,000 much-needed direct jobs in the construction sector through these projects.

Take-up is strong on my initiative to use grant aid for the purchase of temporary accommodation to instead build permanent classrooms. It is now the case also that if temporary accommodation is required for more than three years the Department will offer a school a grant to buy it rather than to rent it.

For the first time an expert group is developing a national strategy for higher education, and I have increased the income limits for student grants for the 2008-09 academic year. Last year, I announced the provision of the extra 1,500 post-leaving certificate places from September as part of the Government's response to the education and training needs of workers who face unemployment or who have lost their jobs. The extra allocation means that the total number of PLC places on offer now for the 2009-10 academic year will be almost 32,000.

Earlier today I heard Deputy Gilmore trying to smear our record on special educational needs but the reality is that this year the Government will spend more than €1 billion on special needs - almost one ninth of my entire education budget. There are now more than 19,000 staff in our schools working solely with children with special needs, including more than 10,000 special needs assistants. It is timely to remind the Opposition that when it was in power, the figure was 300. More than 8,000 resource and learning support teachers work in our schools. It is timely to remind the former rainbow coalition that there were 2,000 in 1998.

Last December, the Government published a blueprint for economic development to build Ireland's smart economy. Such an economy will support a thriving enterprise culture, ensure the highest quality standards, reward entrepreneurship and ultimately secure our energy supplies. We have implemented a number of initiatives to support this new strategic direction for the economy which will provide quality well-paid jobs to current and future generations.

Earlier this month I announced a call for proposals worth €300 million under cycle five of the programme for research in third level institutions. That was an important signal of the Government's continuing determination to lay the foundations for our future competitiveness, create and protect high level jobs in the smart economy and accelerate our recovery. Our capacity for innovation relies equally on the quality of undergraduate provision across the sciences, arts and humanities in our third level institutions.

In these more difficult economic times, we must ensure that we can protect and enhance the quality of provision and the growth in participation rates in higher education that have been so proudly achieved in the past decade. The continuing development of our higher education system will be critical in placing Ireland at the forefront of international innovation, embedding high-value jobs in the Irish economy and encouraging international investors to continue to consider Ireland as a location that offers a highly skilled, creative and flexible workforce.

The national strategy on higher education, due by the end of the year, will be important in identifying the means of achieving these objectives and when the global upturn comes, as it surely will, we will be well positioned to take full advantage because we are taking the right decisions now and invested wisely in our nation during the Celtic tiger years.

As a direct result of the policies pursued by Government in those years, we recorded budget surpluses in ten of our 11 budgets; invested 80% of our resources in health, education and welfare; more than halved our national debt; put 3,500 extra gardaí on the streets; 10,000 extra nurses and doctors in our hospitals; 7,000 more teachers in our schools; invested heavily in our schools and public transport infrastructure; cut direct taxes; protected the vulnerable with the most generous social welfare system in the world; and put money aside for the future in the pension reserve fund which is now proving invaluable in our current financial crisis.

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