Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

I accept that the country is in a very difficult economic situation, and has been for some time. Everyone who has lost a job, whose business has gone bad or is having difficulty paying a mortgage or making ends meet knows that. There is only one thing we have to do, and that is to work our way out of the situation. To do that we must, first, get our economy to grow again, and it is growing. There was growth in 2011 and there is projected growth for this year and next year, for the first time in four years. We have to get people to invest in the economy and we are succeeding in doing that. Since the beginning of this year we have seen jobs announcements. About 1,000 jobs per month were announced by investors who have decided this is a good place to invest. We are seeing it again today. Yesterday, Rehab announced a significant number of jobs. There will be more jobs announcements in Galway today.

We must ensure investors and people who are thinking of investing in the country maintain confidence in the country. To do that, they must be sure we have a stable currency and our relationship to the euro is safe. That is why the Government is asking people to vote "Yes" to the stability treaty on 31 May.

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