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

Actually, I am not raising any other taxes at all because I am able to fund the costs of these reforms and incentives through improved tax revenues arising from economic growth and expenditure restraint.

Conclusion

Both the taxation and expenditure sides of this year's budget are designed to support and broaden the economic recovery that we are now experiencing. Available resources have been carefully targeted at initiatives that will build consumer confidence, support jobs and strengthen demand in the domestic economy. The measures introduced today will put more money into the domestic economy, assist local businesses and retailers and drive growth right across the country. We, as a country, have travelled a long road to get to this point. Managing an economy is not just about numbers. Without the support and resilience of the people, our public finances would not be now under control and our economy would not be growing. I believe this budget is the right approach for Ireland at this point in our recovery. As I have said, we have travelled the long road and we are now at a very important crossroads. We are now facing a choice: do we return to the past, unwind the progress and structural reforms made and pursue boom-and-bust policies, or do we look forward and continue to build for a better future with a new economic model?

Colleagues will recall Robert Frost's poem "The Road Not Taken", which starts with the line, "Two roads diverged in a yellow wood". The road ahead of us diverges and we have a choice to make. Do we take the road frequently trodden by Governments in the past, a road whose signposts are tax and spend and where our journey is through boom to arrive at bust?

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