Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

This is a slow, gradual process and there is no instant one-day solution to take us out of the economic difficulties. We have moved from being on the edge of the cliff to a situation where we have achieved a stabilisation of the financial situation in the country. We are making progress as regards the arrangements made for the bailout. Separate to that we have a problem with our deficit in that we are spending more than we are taking in and as a consequence we have to borrow. The Government aims to reduce the deficit because no country can continue to spend more than it earns and continue to add to its borrowings. We also must achieve growth in the economy and the creation of more jobs. This is the reason the Government has put such a strong emphasis on getting jobs and investment and the reason we are investing so much effort in the restoration of our international reputation as we believe this will bring about investment.

The other dimension of this, the European dimension, is only partly within our control. There is no doubt that the uncertainty surrounding the euro and the eurozone in the latter part of 2011, moving into 2012, has created difficulties in terms of securing investment in this country. To return to the opening line of the Deputy's question, that is why it is important that the stability treaty is supported - in order to bring stability and security to the euro which, in turn, will underpin the confidence investors need to invest in Europe and, in particular, in Ireland.

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