Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

On the legislation, the vehicle to set it up is the National Asset Management Agency (Amendment) Bill, which was in committee in January. I strongly agree with the establishment of a rainy day fund. What I never want to see happen again is for us to repeat the mistakes of the past. When an economy is growing and going relatively well, it makes sense to first balance the books, run a surplus and then put some of that surplus aside for a period so that when there is a downturn, and it is always the case that there will be a downturn at some point in the future, we will never again have to do what happened in this country five or six years ago. We never want to be in a situation ever again where we have to cut people's pay, pensions, welfare benefits and employment in the public sector. It terrifies me how often I come into this House and hear from all sides proposals to repeat the mistakes of the past-----

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