Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I came into this House in 1994 from a by-election and in 1995 we were in Government until 1997. Every time a Fine Gael or a Labour Party Minister would rise to speak on the budget, the Fianna Fáil backbenchers would go back in history about what Fianna Fáil had done when they were in Government. I want to put a history lesson on the record of the House about the Government from 1995 to 1997. The media sometimes forget that it was the first time since the foundation of the State that a Government actually had a surplus. This meant we were not borrowing money for the day to day running of the country. We were creating 1,500 jobs a day, from 1995 to 1997. I remember that general election when the Irish Independent headline read, "It's Payback Time". The newspaper was 13 years ahead of its time because it is payback time now-----

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