Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As Deputy Adams well knows, it is not by any means the harbinger saying we are through all of this. There are challenges ahead but we are moving in the right direction. Our people around the country tell me that I must keep at this because the problem will not go away unless we deal with it. That is what both parties in Government are setting out to do. It is not with any great pleasure or satisfaction that any Minister has to stand up in these straitened economic circumstances and say that we have to make hard decisions. Tough decisions must be made, however, in the interests of all our people and our country. Our ambition is to retrieve our economic independence, to come out of this programme, to be able to see the troika go home, and fly on our own where we continue to be competitive, attractive for investment and as a location for jobs to be created. That is our ambition and today's budget will build on that platform and move us further in that direction.

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