Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

In 2007, the House mandated the Government by electing it and the then Taoiseach. This was on foot of a mandate from the people in the 2007 election. I welcome this opportunity to have a mid-term vote of confidence, as it will enable the House to reiterate its confidence that we will be able to steer the ship of State through the most difficult times experienced in many years.

At the last general election, the people not only voted for us on the basis of our prior record, but also because of their confidence that, if the economy turned, Fianna Fáil would be best placed to deal with it. This was a clear fact presented throughout the election campaign, the press briefings and our dealings with people. On foot of this, our programme for Government set out our targets, but we must accept that the international economic situation has changed drastically.

In the years prior to the 2007 election, we spent and the Opposition shouted for us to spend more. As we reduced class sizes, the call was for more to be done. As we put more resource teachers into schools than was ever the case previously, the call was for more. As we targeted finances on children in disadvantaged areas, the call was for more children to be included, which would only have dissipated the available money. As we invested in schools and undertook 3,000 schools building projects, the call was always for more to be done. No one ever told us that we should not be spending so much money. Constantly, the Opposition shouted at all Departments to spend more and more. In fairness, that was also the demand from the public and the unions, since a great deal of money was available. There is not much point in turning around now and telling us that we should not have spent all of that money when those on the Opposition benches were the very people who shouted for us to spend more.

One can see the benefits of the money spent around the country. It is nonsense to claim that we blew the boom, given the infrastructure, schools, health facilities, child care facilities, major road developments, public transport, broadband and other advances evident in every corner of the country. Of course, there is more to do.

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