Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I am of the view, therefore, that those who proposed broadly similar fiscal policies in their election manifestos and policy position papers and others who lobbied for these and even more expansionary fiscal provisions also have cause to acknowledge those facts. The prospective budgetary positions set out by the various parties in the House prior to the most recent general election, from which we derived our mandate - in that context, the Government intends to spend its full term dealing with the issues with which it is confronted on a daily and weekly basis - confirm that the optimism which existed in respect of the economy was shared by all.

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