Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy saw what happened in Greece where the country nearly closed down and had to change. We must navigate our way back to regaining our economic sovereignty so that we control our own destiny. Hopefully, by the end of this year, we will be in a position where we will be able to borrow money on our terms at a price we can afford and be able to deploy our resources in a way that does not dictate the speed at which we recover a balance in our budget. If we do not have a balance in the budget and control our own moneys and how we deploy them, we are not an independent people. Every person who comes out of unemployment and re-enters a job if we can stimulate the economy to create and sustain that job saves the taxpayer about €20,000 on average. When a person moves from being on social welfare and support systems to getting a job and salary and paying whatever tax is due on that, the overall average figure is a saving of €20,000. Therefore, stimulating and managing the economy to create employment is one of the overall responsibilities of the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. It is against that backdrop that we must balance matters. Every organisation and household has to live in the same world. The fact that we are trying to do it does not mean we like doing it.

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