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

I am delighted to have an opportunity to speak, although it would take much more than the time available to me to discuss the range of issues which have been dealt with in the country over the past three and a half years and the magnitude of the task handed to the present Administration. I acknowledge the efforts of the people, particularly during the past three and a half years when the almost insurmountable task was handed to them of bearing up under the financial burden thrust upon them through no fault of theirs. I congratulate the Government, collectively and individually, on the way in which it handled the issue. Members of the Government could have run away from their responsibilities, pretended it did not happen and continued down the road advised by some and borrowed more money, lashed it out and assuaged the population on this basis. They could have addressed the issue raised by those who called it austerity. They did not. They were responsible and did their job. They did their accounting properly and put forward and implemented proposals which were sustainable and remedial. This needed to be done.

Against this were those who call themselves anti-austerity. They come in a variety of shapes and sizes on the other side of the House. They stated there was no need for this austerity and what we wanted was more stimulus, in other words, more borrowing. Little thought was given to the fact there was no place from which we could borrow. Our credit rating was gone. I cannot understand for the life of me why people still come forward and state what we need is more stimulus.

We have another contradiction at present, which is that perhaps this is the wrong budget for now. The reason for this is some of these commentators have been so wrong so often about so much, they are afraid to adopt a position on any side on anything any more, and rightly so. They are discredited. I say well done to the Government, especially the Minister for Finance, on a difficult job and a great result so far.

There is much more to be dealt with in the future. It remains to be seen the extent to which that commitment and support for it will remain in the future.

It has been said in the past of certain issues that one could not see the wood for the trees. At least we can see the trees now. The national ship has been hauled off the rocks and is now drying out before the next move ahead. Three, four or five years ago that was not so. Some people on the other side of the House repeatedly say this Government is the same as Fianna Fáil, the Green Party, the Progressive Democrats and all those people who came before us. What does that mean? It simply means that this Administration had to do things that the previous Administration did with money. This Administration had no money with which to do it and no borrowing facilities available to it. It is a great tribute to the Minister for Finance that he has managed in the face of all these difficulties to achieve the kind of credit rating that we now have internationally while at the same time being able to go forward with reasonable growth expectations for the future.

One feels sympathy towards those who remain prophets of doom and gloom because they have been continually wrong. It is sad when people are wrong all the time. There are those who have, for example, introduced the word "austerity", a kind of dirty word. Austerity is something a government introduces when it has options and when it can decide to inflate its economy by introducing particular measures. Frequently during the lifetime of previous administrations we were told that everything was controlled from Brussels, that because we could not change interest rates we could do nothing, and that credit and everything else were out of our hands and dealt with elsewhere. However, when the crunch came, it soon became possible to do all these things ourselves - all these things that could not have been done before. It is remarkable and, as the Minister for Finance said, it was not a miracle but it was done with great effort and concentration by a great number of people.

A few issues still need serious and urgent attention. I do not have time to deal with them at present, but water and housing are two such issues. For 20 years I have been tabling parliamentary questions - they are there on the record for all to see - asking when we would have a proper investment programme to provide a sustainable supply of domestic drinking water incorporating adequate treatment works. All we hear from the other side is how outrageous it is that it actually costs money. If they can find somebody who can produce a commodity of that nature without the requirement to pay, I want to hear about it. Even Archimedes could not do that and he came before my time.

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