Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

Every Department has areas where more can and will be done. However, it is wrong to say that we should have spent more while simultaneously saying that we did nothing at all. There are significant contradictions between what the Opposition said at the time and what it is saying now.

We must acknowledge that the programme for Government must be reviewed because of the changed economic circumstances. Our plans for what we had hoped to do over the coming years must also be modified because of the change in the world's situation. The Government is fully cognisant of this fact. For this reason, we needed to make changes during the past year. There were changes in July, October and February and further changes will be made in the next budget.

Which of us who watched the fall of Lehman Brothers on the news last September could have anticipated its impact on the world, not just on Ireland? Sometimes, we might be too closeted in examining what is occurring in this country alone when the same occurrence is to be found in France, Belgium, Germany, the United States of America and elsewhere. The situation necessitated Government action on a number of fronts, namely, stabilising the banks and the country's finances, creating a situation in which employment can be regenerated while recognising the fact that many have lost their jobs, and protecting the vulnerable. All of the above required tough decisions.

From canvassing people on their doorsteps in recent years, I can understand how aggrieved, hurt and upset they are about how the situation has impacted upon them. I have met people who lost their bank shares and, consequently, their extra pension funds or their guaranteed futures. We have met people who showed us their bank statements and information on how the income levy comes out of their pay packets. Public servants are particularly aggrieved that they must pay into a pension. People have lost their jobs and young, well-educated people have lost hope. In any mid-term test, they would express their feelings in the best way possible, namely, on the doorstep and in the ballot box, which is precisely what people did last week. We accept this fact, which has impacted upon our party, councillors, candidates and canvassers. We will take it on the chin.

While we acknowledge that people are hurt, we must ensure that we do what we have set out to do in the general sense. As Deputy Noonan mentioned a few moments ago, we must create a banking system that is able to serve the country's needs now. We must ensure that we restore order to the public finances. We have tried to do so while protecting the most vulnerable as far as possible, namely, those who are benefiting from a €21 billion social welfare budget, an extraordinary amount of money.

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