Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

It is down and is going in the right direction. It is not where we want it to be but it is going in the right direction and the Deputy might at least acknowledge progress. Nobody on this side of the House is enthusiastic about cutting any service to the public, but we are in an economic and financial hole. We are short of money and the gap is made up by borrowing. That is the Government's approach, but Deputy McDonald and her party have offered no realistic solution. Unlike her colleagues north of the Border, she is refusing to face up to the reality of the economic situation here. The policies she would pursue would not just have the cuts that must now be implemented in our services, but would be far deeper. Her approach, for example, in refusing to repay-----

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