Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

The Deputy asked about our objectives. Our objective is to get back to a situation in which this country is in charge of its own economic destiny. That means we must pay our way, meet our conditions and get out of the IMF-EU bailout deal as quickly as we can. That is why the Government has taken decisions on the banks and to give some element of stimulation to our indigenous economy within the constraints of the IMF-EU deal. That is why the Government is now focused on the scale of what we have to do to close our budget deficit. The Deputy is aware that if one is spending €20 billion more than one is taking in, there is a problem. We will not get out of this unless we deal with these problems. There is no point in running away from it.

Every time we make any kind of comment here, we are all agreed that our corporate tax rate stays at the level it is at. This country is not the one that said it would impose a condition over and above what we are already meeting in the IMF-EU bailout deal. I want the Deputy to know that the conversations I had with President Sarkozy last week were different in tone and content from those we had previously. We have made some progress on this. Every other leader with whom I spoke the other day - President Barroso, Prime Minister Van Rompuy, Mr. Trichet from the ECB - recognised what is happening here to the extent that this country is meeting the terms and conditions of the EU bailout deal, which neither the Deputy nor I asked to get into and which the Government denied we were getting into at the time. However, we are in there, so we must deal with it.

I recognise the challenge our people face. People with distressed mortgages, those on low pay or those who are locked out of employment because of the structure of the joint labour committees are coming to me as they are to everyone else. Our job is to stimulate our own economy, increase our exports even further, improve our productivity and build on our flexibility so that foreign direct investment will continue. Our people will have credit available to them as a consequence of the Government's decision to deleverage the banks' assets. We must now make them prove that credit is available for small business. As the Minister for Finance pointed out, there was a lack of demand for credit, because in many of those cases, when seeking credit, people went the wrong way by buying property in Bulgaria and elsewhere, ruining businesses they were in themselves. It is a fact of life. Our objectives are to get out of this mess, put our country in a much firmer position, provide employment for our people, close our budget deficit and have a country we can be proud of. I know the Deputy has some constructive suggestions to make in that regard.

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