Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

-----in unemployment from 15% to 6%. The NTMA is an extremely professional body. It has managed us through the crisis and overseen a situation where we have moved from being charged interest rates of 14% to one where they are down to 1%. I have confidence in it to continue to manage the debt. That the economy is in the current position is extremely important in terms of the rates at which we can borrow. It means we can continue to have a balanced approach to dealing with our debt, which we must do. The Deputy regularly calls for investment in infrastructure and our social services. We must also do that. We must achieve a balance between managing the debt and getting the debt-to-GDP ratio down and continuing the investment that is so necessary. That is the approach the Government is taking. The Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, made that clear yesterday when speaking on the summer economic statement, which sets out a practical approach for the careful and prudent management of our economy.

At the same time, it will ensure we invest in the services we need, negotiate pay agreements that are manageable and affordable and, above all, make the kind of decisions that ensure citizens have a good quality of life because we have good transport infrastructure and good health, education and other services. Just this week, we made a decision to invest in more special needs assistants in schools. We can make this type of decision because we have the right approach to managing the economy and the national debt and we are ensuring we can continue to invest.

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