Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

When the Government took office in March 2011, we set out a plan to regain control of Ireland’s fiscal and economic policies, to grow the economy and to get people back to work. Many people both inside and outside this House believed that we, as a Government, would fail and opposed each and every step we took along the way. The Government did not fail. We exited the bailout. The public finances are under control. The Irish economy is growing at the fastest rate among developed economies. The rate of jobs creation in Ireland is one of the fastest in Europe. We are ahead of our planned fiscal targets and we have managed to achieve this progress with less tax increases and fewer expenditure cuts than envisaged in 2011. We have succeeded in key negotiations over our EU and IMF loans and on the promissory notes.

The road we have travelled to get to this point has been very difficult and the Irish people have made major sacrifices, but the policies pursued by this Government have worked and the recovery in the Irish economy is well underway. The recovery has not spread across the country yet and many families have yet to experience it. The Government is fully aware of this fact. For many people, the recovery will only come when they get a job. For some, the recovery will only come when they see more money in their pockets. For many families, the permanent return of a loved one who has emigrated will mark the end of the crisis and the start of the recovery.

Budget 2015 is about securing the recovery, building for the future and broadening it to families across the country. This Government will not be returning to the boom and bust model of the past that has spectacularly and repeatedly failed the Irish people.

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