Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)

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Conclusion

The core message of this Government is to get Ireland working again. It is the unifying goal of the new Fine Gael-Labour coalition Government. Last year, I said that the then Government had learned nothing and forgotten nothing. Twice in a generation, reckless spending on the back of irresponsible politics has landed our country in a fiscal crisis.

In my time in politics, I have experienced many economic downturns. In previous recessions the policy position was to get the country back to where it was before the recession began. There is no point in following that approach now. If we go back to where we were before it all began we will be back in the bubble economy when Ministers held a naïve belief that all of us could become wealthy by selling property to each other-----

See this speech in context