John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)

However, the Government does not believe this to be either the right or the appropriate time to hold this electoral contest. I hope to set out some of its reasoning for this decision. As Members are aware, over the past two years this country has experienced one of the most turbulent economic periods in its history. This has occurred primarily due to a deep international recession, which has significantly affected people in the constituency of Donegal South-West and elsewhere. During the past two years, the Government has been working hard to ensure that Ireland and the Irish people will be able to come through this difficult period. In this House, Members have passed some of the most important legislation in the history of the State. Following a period of real difficulty and uncertainty, I am glad to note that such decisions and legislation are beginning to show signs of a turnaround in the country's fortunes. While I do not believe for a minute that the road back to recovery is complete, the actions of the Government have helped to place us firmly in the right direction. Today, the European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs indicated that the economic plan being implemented by the Government is bold and credible. He continued by noting that the Irish economy is recovering. This follows previous comments in an edition last week of the Financial Times, which stated that the country had a credible recovery plan. Moreover, today's Exchequer returns also bear this out.

It is in this context that the Government does not believe it now would be in the best interests of either the people or of Donegal for the Government and the political parties to take their eyes off the recovery of the economy to focus their attention on running electoral contests.

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