Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I would love to have 33 minutes but one must make do with what one has.

Let us not do damage to the morale and moral fibre of our people before the auction even starts. Let us not break them by telling them we have a magic solution. Deputies will recall that there was no magic solution in 1977. On the contrary, we had disaster and disillusionment after the election, as we did after the 1987 election. In 1997, the outgoing Government left everything in pristine decision before it walked out the door. Unfortunately, 15 years later, the same parties returned to drag the country back off the rocks in a way that challenges everybody, whether in public administration or the private sector, in every aspect of their lives.

Deputies on this side do not accept the idea being promulgated by the Opposition that austerity was invented by the Government to punish people. The Government has been stuck with tough bookkeeping and housekeeping and must balance budgets, as the Deputies opposite are aware. If they do not recognise that we must adhere to the requirement to reduce the deficit to 3% of GDP, the position will become much worse because we would have an irresponsible Opposition waiting to replace the Government and drive the country down the road of total destruction. I hope this does not happen and I know the Leas-Cheann Comhairle shares that hope.

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