Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)

We have a mandate, constitutionally achieved only two years ago, to govern this country for five years. It has been an extraordinarily difficult two years but not one of us on this side of the House is fearful of the challenge before us or the mountains that must be climbed to deliver to this country socially, economically and politically the benefits that will accrue when the tide turns, as it will inevitably, not only nationally but also internationally.

The Opposition should take great care in the way that it has been presenting so-called arguments aided and abetted by others outside the House who have delivered nothing but rhetoric and, indeed, bluster about our economic situation, and the solutions that exist. It is quite extraordinary that in all of the corrections the Government has taken since the middle of 2008, not one of them has been supported by the parties opposite. In fact, almost on a weekly basis, they come into the House with the latest ideal of what I can only determine as the sort of kindergarten economics that prevails in the Opposition. No real substantive solutions are being offered, except to say that they will do it better and the gap in resources will be bridged somehow from savings. I congratulate Deputies Lee and O'Sullivan on their election and on their arrival into the House today, but I was struck by the direct question asked recently of Deputy Lee, a celebrity economist. When asked directly where he would deal with the challenges in terms of the reduction in expenditure and tax, he stated Fine Gael will get it from savings.

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