Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

That is a perfectly legitimate political point of view. Of course it is and I am not disregarding it as a point of view. However, it is reflective of the fact that in response to budget after budget and during the general election campaign, Sinn Féin stated clearly that it disagrees with the policy I was pursuing to balance our books and have a surplus. It is precisely the approach that we have taken in recent years that has now been of great help to Ireland as we have needed to borrow billions of euro quickly. The approach that I took is one of the reasons why the interest rate we are paying on our debt and the new debt we are incurring is low in comparison to many other European Union countries. The Sinn Féin response to that will refer to the role of the European Central Bank. I acknowledged the role of the European Central bank earlier in my speech. It is not an institution that Sinn Féin has had much good to say about either.

A debate will ensue regarding where we go after the decision we make on the rainy day fund. The decision that we are making now is the right decision. It is the right decision not to be depositing in the rainy day fund this year. It is also right to ensure that if we do make deposits in the years to come, they have to take place at a time when our deficit is declining and our tax revenues and employment are increasing. I believe that is the right point for those deposits to begin again in the future.

There are those who take a different view and say that we need to continue with massive borrowing. That again poses the contradiction that I believe is at the heart of that approach. Those who tend to advocate higher and higher borrowing tend also to be those who warn about the dangers of the financial markets. The more one borrows, the more reliant one becomes on the financial markets. It is also the case that if I put forward any measures to use tax as a way of reducing our need to borrow, the same people are opposed. In the most recent Finance Bill, Sinn Féin opposed the carbon tax. In the debate on the Bill, Sinn Féin made it clear that it wants to oppose the local property tax. I have no doubt at all that if any other measures are brought forward in the future, they will be opposed. The hypocrisy of it. Sinn Féin stands in front of the people and tells them that it wants to tackle climate change because it recognises there is a climate crisis and yet it opposes the single form of taxation that scientists and experts on climate change say we need to implement. This is the debate that is to come.

I believe that we will have an economy that will be able to recover. I believe that recovering economy will be able to deal with many of the funding challenges that we will have and many of the needs that are there. Our country has shown its ability to respond to a crisis of this scale by carefully looking after our financial affairs. We will have to make choices in the future regarding how we ensure our national finances become safe again. Those will be choices and debates that we will contest and debate in this House.

Deputy Bruton quoted Macbethin his earlier contribution. Perhaps it is appropriate for me to quote what Shakespeare wrote in Julius Caesarwhen noting that:

There is a tide in the affairs of men

Which, taken at flood, leads on to fortune.

He also noted:

And we must take the current when it serves,

Or lose our ventures.

We have seen a great sea change in the environment within which our country has to look after its people in 2020. While there has been suffering, harm and loss of life due to this pandemic, I believe that the way we have run our economy in recent years has allowed our country to respond in a way that has no precedent in its economic history. The question is whether we want to rebuild our ability to do that again in the future. I believe we should and while I note and appreciate the Opposition's support for the motion we will pass later this week, it is also clear to me where the debate will lie.

See this speech in context