Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am surprised to see the Opposition benches so sparsely populated, given all the bleating they do about the economy.

Over 18 months ago the people of this country got a new Government but the same old economy. It was an economy in deep recession almost submerged in debt, shedding workers by the thousand and crippled by multiple policy mistakes made over a decade. The new Government also inherited an economy being directed from outside, in particular in respect of the major fiscal parameters. Most people understand that a new Government cannot banish the past and start with a blank sheet of paper. The wreckage must be confronted, the economy must be recast, the public finances put on a sustainable path and the banks caused to start lending again. The process is a painful one, especially for some of the people.

The economic crisis that we have inherited is the most serious since the Second World War. I am not sure that this is a truth universally acknowledged. A banking collapse as well as a global slump is the perfect storm.

It is true that the economy has returned to growth but it is not experiencing the growth rates anticipated by the programme for Government. It is difficult to grow an economy as open as ours when our trading partners are themselves contracting and when the eurozone remains in some tumult. Stability in the eurozone, together with the return of the public finances to a sustainable path and a functioning banking system, will see the economy grow again. We are more competitive now and we continue to enjoy the competitive advantages well travelled in our industrial strategy. However, there is not yet stability in the eurozone although the very significant progress of recent months has to be acknowledged. It is crucially important, with the minimum of delay, that the refurbishment of the euro architecture is brought to finality. It is imperative that our banks return to the practice of skills that became redundant during the property bubble, in particular, skills on how to assess risk, lend to enterprise and, especially, to the SME sector.

As the Taoiseach expressed it in Paris, a European solution was imposed on Ireland but without European sharing. It is only important to history to establish if this was allowed to happen because of the level of dysfunction then engulfing the Irish Government. The fact is it did happen-----

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