Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)

I am illustrating the point the Deputy made. We must be very careful because the propensity to say, "We will do that too", must be broken. We must resolve our problems on our own, in particular the structural problems in our public finances. There is no point stretching that over a long period because if we do not take action, we will end up in the situation in which we found ourselves in the late 1980s when we had a per capita debt which was higher than that Sudan or Ethiopia and when every penny which came in under PAYE tax had to go to serve that debt. That would be a betrayal of all that has been achieved in recent years and of the future generation.

We must solve all those problems. The Taoiseach and the Minister for Finance have stated our determination to deal with them, and not because it is the easy thing to do politically - God only knows it is not as there is no popularity in cutting. However, the reality is that we must take the scalpel, although we must be careful how we wield it.

I hope Deputy Creighton will be able to enthuse all those who sit behind her on the backbenches who sometimes reflect quite contrary views to her way of thinking because to my mind her way of thinking is the right way.

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