Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Independent)

Everybody acknowledges we have taken €100 million from the sector. There are other issues, such as the recent effort to reform health insurance to protect the old and the sick, as well as the fair deal scheme. There are many other examples. For too long party politics were often put ahead of patient safety.

I know of no Minister for Finance in any democratic jurisdiction who takes the advice of the outlier; instead, they take the advice of the consensus. The reality is that the consensus advice from all institutions and economic commentators was that the country would grow by between 4% and 5% annually. Fine Gael, the Labour Party, the Progressive Democrats and Fianna Fáil all based their 2007 election manifestos on that consensus advice and not on the outlier advice to which I refer. That fact must be accepted.

The challenge for us in the coming years will be to ensure, as is currently the case, that the flow of news from Ireland is positive. We have a good reputation internationally that was hard won. Ireland is seen as a country seeking to return its economy to growth. It is from such growth that employment stems. Ireland is also seen as a country that is stabilising its public finances, making its banks fit for purpose and reforming its public services and placing them on a sustainable footing. The last thing the Government needs is to be deflected from that task. Whoever is in government must place that task to the fore in the coming years.

I am confident that Ireland has the positive, "can do" attitude necessary to achieve that which I describe. We work well with others, we trade well on the international stage and we attract good investment. We have done it before and we can do it again. There are now almost 1 million more people at work than in the 1980s when we last experienced a serious economic recession. We should not be afraid to place in perspective the positives in our economy as the negatives are continually highlighted in this House.

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