Alan Farrell (Dublin North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Donohoe, to the House. The past three years in Ireland have not been easy. I do not believe anybody is under any illusions in that regard, particularly the 450,000 people who were unemployed when this Government took office on 9 March 2011. At that time, our economy was in ruin, we had lost our economic sovereignty and the prospects of an entire generation had evaporated simply because the political establishment of the day was too weak to deal with the mistakes it had made and the problems it had created. The political system was unable to answer the questions being levied upon it by an increasingly angry electorate.

This Government inherited a dysfunctional country, one which was unable to secure funding for the provision of services which we all take for granted. What has occurred over the past three years is nothing short of remarkable. What occurred rests squarely on the shoulders of the Irish people in terms of the sacrifices they made. It is the Irish people and not the Government I wish to compliment this afternoon. Without the contribution and sacrifices of the Irish people, none of this would have been possible. There has been much discussion on the Government's priorities for the year ahead and the Government's approach to our economy and the economic restoration project in which we have been engaged for the past three years. Although extremely difficult decisions have had to be made over the past three years, without the sacrifices of the Irish people we would not have reached where we are so quickly and most certainly would not have been able to create as many jobs as have been created during the past three years, particularly the last two years.

The Fine Gael-Labour Party coalition took office when the country was at its lowest ebb. It could be argued it was at its lowest ebb since the foundation of the State. With the forbearance of the Irish people, we have managed to instil confidence and stability and to foster a growth that was painfully absent in previous years. This confidence and stability brought 58,000 new jobs to our shores during the past 12 months, 900 of which I am pleased to say were in my constituency.

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