Seán Power (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)

Regardless of why or how we have come to be discussing this matter in the House today, it is the right option. Many people throughout the country have expressed their views on this motion and many of them have strong views on it. In yesterday's newspapers I read that the main Opposition party will refuse to support the motion. It gave three reasons for that, one of which was that it had better contacts in Europe and would be in a better position to renegotiate. That is one of the most ridiculous comments I have encountered in recent times.

Last week the Government introduced the toughest budget this country has ever seen. It gave me no pleasure to take money away from thousands of social welfare recipients or to reduce the minimum wage. However, I supported the budget because I believe that such decisive and tough action is required if this country is to recover. While attempts were made in recent years to deal with our difficulties, they have often been too little, too late. The truth is that if we introduced last week's budget two years ago, we would not be debating the arrival of the IMF. Money will have to be borrowed for the foreseeable future to pay for the running of this country. While we saw interest rates rise throughout the past 12 months and some people felt the markets were behaving irrationally, those markets were sending us a clear message. The message was that they did not believe we were capable of resolving our difficulties on our own. Many of the projections and forecasts that we gave to our European colleagues were changed shortly after they were given.

The arrival of the IMF was one of the blackest days this country has ever seen. We denied for a long time that outside assistance was required, or indeed being sought.

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