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

------and it is a most elastic science that is applicable in retrospect more than at the time it should be applied.

There is no doubt about the difficulty the Irish people and the Government faced and there are no easy answers. The answers undertaken by the Government have not been easy. We must compliment the people of the country for their indulgence, forbearance and sacrifice. Without exception, every person in the country was scared two and a half, three and four years ago because they did not know if they would survive. That was understandable. I did not think we would survive and I did not think our society would survive. I thought we would have broken down, in the same way as happened in other jurisdictions, and that we would run away from our responsibilities. I compliment the people of this country on the stoicism with which they have addressed the issues. That is recognised by people on the offside of the Opposition benches. I cannot understand why the people who normally sit on the main Opposition benches, some of whom are in parties and some of whom are in other Opposition groupings, do not accept that we cannot spend money we do not have. We must still borrow the money we spend for day-to-day running expenses of the country.

Austerity is a term regularly used on the Opposition benches. In this context, it means running our affairs within our means and paying for ourselves as we go along. If we do not accept that and decide to go for broke and do what we have been told by Members on the Opposition benches, disaster will naturally follow.

I have heard Keynes being quoted as if he was an old buddy who had suddenly sprung from the undergrowth and had been unrecognised for a number of years. I have read Keynes, as has everyone else in the House. With apologies to economists, Keynes did not get it right all the time and he took a long time to get it right.

When easy options are put forward by people in opposition, inevitably the public decide they must be right. After all, the newspapers and television programmes report that people do not trust politicians, so what the Government says must be wrong. There is a confusion between the Executive and politicians, and this has been the case for a number of years. The policies that were pursued for quite a long number of years were wrong and not at all the kind of policies that were required. Everything was about spending and spending with no regard to the future. Those were the good and easy times and the public approved, unfortunately and to their own detriment. We should have learned that lesson. We should be very careful when listening to the prophets of doom and the prophets of promise and the people who claim that there are easier ways. Easy options are not there. Those who claim there are easy options should step out and let us know how it can be done.

We are leaving the bailout programme and we will be swimming on our own. Every economic indicator will be reflected in the markets, as will every failure to reach our targets, and we will pay the price one way or the other. Interest rates will rise and we will pay more for what we have to borrow.

Deputy Shane Ross expressed it eloquently when he said that the crucial factor was the degree to which we can experience and encourage economic growth, and I agree. Can we experience and exceed the 2.5% growth that is necessary? I have always believed, over the past five to six years, that the targets set by many economists at the time were wrong. I was wrong as well in believing that we would have been way below what we are at now. I was not basing that view on fantasy because I had reasons for believing it.

The more we tax, the less incentive there is to generate economic growth, which in turn will address the economic issues. If economic growth can be encouraged, we will be on the right path. The time has come for the Government to launch an economic recovery bond. This could be used for the generation of economic activity. As Deputy Ross mentioned, it could be used to generate activity in the construction sector, with particular reference to the provision of local authority houses, because no one else will be providing them. More than 100,000 people are on local authority housing waiting lists. The Department of Social Protection pays €400 million a year in rent support or in lieu thereof. This has been going on for years, even during the boom times, and nobody has addressed the problem. It is a total economic contradiction to allow this to continue indefinitely. The Opposition - the absent Opposition - said that the Government had failed. The Government has not failed; it has not had time to succeed just yet. However, Members on the benches opposite expect an overnight miracle on an issue that they spent ten years burying and driving into the ground. They now want the current Government to perform an economic miracle and to produce something overnight. The Government has responded by introducing for the first time in years the direct building of local authority housing. This policy will be successful. It will eliminate the number of people dependent on local authority housing and they will be able to enter the workforce because they will not have the fear or threat of losing any benefits. It will release a considerable amount of money from the Department of Social Protection by way of foregone rent support.

If 10,000 houses were to be built in the next two years, at least 10,000 people would be employed as a result. Unlike many proposals from the absent Opposition, this would generate economic activity in a way that will not be supporting inflationary tendencies, as happened in the 1970s. At that time, economists advised putting more money in people's pockets and into the commercial sector in order to put money into circulation. That was the wrong policy. Within 18 months the Taoiseach of the day resigned and the economy went down the river. We are still paying that back and nothing has changed.

In response to questions from the members of the Opposition the Tánaiste asked if they did not know the country was broke. I would correct that by saying that the country was broke when we found it but it is being repaired.

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