We had first planned Government surplus in more than three decades, inflation was kept low and the national debt fell to 63% of GDP. When we left office in 1997, 1,000 new jobs were being created each week in the Irish economy. This prudent management of the economy laid a solid foundation for the improvements in resources to schools that occurred subsequently. Teacher numbers have increased significantly since but sadly through the mismanagement of recent years we are hard pressed to maintain those improvements.

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