Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Let me assure Deputy Adams that as regards tomorrow's budget, we have made no secret of the fact that our country faces a challenging time. We have never been talking about green shoots or having turned corners. Everybody knows that economically our country faces a challenging period and we are going to deal with that. Tomorrow's budget will be a further step in the direction of recovering our competitiveness, making this country an attractive location for direct investment, and the opportunities - such as they are - to stimulate our own indigenous economy by opening doors for access to credit for small and medium-sized enterprises, whereby jobs are created.

The Deputy is clearly interested in what will happen in tomorrow's budget and he asked me for clarification on one particular issue. He has less than 24 hours to go before details of the budget - not rumours, speculation or allegations - will be unveiled by the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. On that occasion, the Deputy can talk on the basis of fact instead of speculation, innuendo, rumour or allegation.

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