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

-----but he obviously does not accept compliments.

Deputy Paul Murphy admitted previously in the House that he was in favour of total unemployment. That is the reverse of Government policy. For the first time in the history of the State we have achieved employment of more than two million people. I remember in the 1980s it was a struggle to get employment past 1 million. The people of the State who made the sacrifices during the down times, and the Government, should take a bow. They have done a great job. It was a difficult job, in difficult circumstances and for which they got little support and recognition in pursuing the reference at that time. During the darkest days of the downturn, when Ministers were going abroad and trying to generate enthusiasm for this economy, there was little solace for them. Everybody was able to point them out personally and demonise them for allowing the country to go down the tubes. The country had been well and truly down the tubes for several years prior to that.

Perhaps the Acting Chairman remembers the reference that was made to the soft landings in previous commentary. An airline pilot would not have had problems with the soft landings that were promised during that period. All Members on the opposite side of the House were full of enthusiasm for the soft landings, but we had a major crash landing. The Minister at the time, the late Deputy Brian Lenihan, put words to it in the House when he said that the economy came to a juddering halt. It was appalling that it happened, and I do not blame anybody for that, but it happened on the watch of numerous people, including economists who had spread the word of Keynesianism daily. That entails the spending of money when one is broke. I always apologise to economists when I mention this, but I do not know anybody who will give a country money to spend when it is broke. It has never happened anywhere in the world, and I was amazed by it. It did not work anyway.

Prudence is important but it is dull in comparison to a splurge. Anyone who goes to the races will know what a splurge is about. If a person has a few bob in the pocket, he or she tends to let it fly, and when it is all gone. unfortunately. the person can be prudent then. It is important, however, to be prudent beforehand and to spend carefully and wisely. It is because of prudence that Ireland is where it is now. It was tough, it is hard going, and it will be tough for some time into the future. A sobering thought for everybody is that while we have achieved great results, we still have a massive national debt of more than €200 billion, with a service cost of €5 billion or €6 billion every year. All the pseudo-economists from whom we hear from time to time should ponder on that point. They should ask themselves if they would lend to somebody who had a massive debt. Admittedly, we are close to 1.5% of GDP currently, but it must be taken into consideration when lending to anybody who is in difficulty. I strongly urge Members to consider this.

Between 2011 and 2012 almost 500,000 people were unemployed in Ireland. The figure has reduced dramatically. However, the population has increased as has the number of people in employment. That was not easy to achieve and it was not without effort. It was not an accident; it was due to the huge efforts put in by the Government, by the Minister and by the Irish people. I pay tribute to the Labour Party Ministers who played a part in that in difficult circumstance and who were ridiculed for it. As a result of their efforts and the efforts of the previous Government, we have almost full employment, as opposed to full unemployment, and some structure to our books that had not been pursued in the past. As a result, we have a better future for our people.

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