Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am sure like many Deputies in this House, the Ceann Comhairle had difficulty getting in to Leinster House on budget day. That was because the Garda had erected cordons all around Leinster House because they feared there would be very large protests here about the budget. As it turned out, there were no protests. I think that says it all in respect of the budget. Maybe in future years, the Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform might look at giving the budget to the Garda Commissioner in advance so that he can assess it himself and decide whether he needs to put cordons up.

Look at the response to the budget. Even the NGOs were not critical. In fairness to the Opposition, it cannot be critical. It went off and spoke about other issues. It was clearly a budget that was well received broadly across the board. If there was going to be any opposition to it, if there were going to be any protesters outside, they might have been protestors who supported fiscal conservatives in Ireland. It appears that even if we do not have any fiscal conservatives in Leinster House, we do not have any left in the country either. The Ministers, Deputies McGrath and Donohoe, deserve to be commended for this budget. I think they got the balance right. There was fear from the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, IFAC, or the Central Bank that it might be too inflationary and expansionist. I suppose they have to say that and they uttered some of their concerns after the budget. But in fairness, when a lot of money is coming into the Exchequer there is a responsibility on the part of the Government to ensure it is spread out among those who need it most in the public, particularly at times like this when there are such difficult cost-of-living pressures. It is also the case, however, that two funds have been established which are looking to the long term. Those would appeal to fiscal conservatives and to IFAC and the Central Bank. It recognises that the extraordinary moneys we are getting into the Exchequer at present will not always be there. We have to ensure that we retain money not simply for a rainy day but for younger people and for essential infrastructure projects into the future.

Sometimes it is assumed that we just found ourselves in this position in Ireland where we have these huge Exchequer returns and receipts and vibrant economy and that it happened out of the blue and nobody is responsible for it. It is important that we point out here that the reason why this country has such as successful economy is because of political decisions that have been made recently and in past decades by Irish Governments. We do not automatically become a very successful economy with full employment and huge tax receipts because people like us. It happens because of decisions that have been made. Look at the short run of Irish history. A number of political decisions were made by Governments in the past, mainly Fianna Fáil, I have to say, that have really resulted in this economy booming as it is today.

First, there is the fact that we joined the European Union. That was a transformation for this country when we did it some 50 or so years ago. It opened up this economy. That built on a decision previously made by Seán Lemass to open the Irish economy to the multinational sector and to attract in foreign direct investment. It is important to recall that not everyone in politics agreed with that. There was a lot of opposition to our membership of the EEC. There was a lot of opposition to our campaign to try to attract in foreign direct investment. Many people on the left thought that was an inappropriate route down which to go. It has been shown that it was absolutely the correct thing to do.

Similarly, on lowering our corporation tax, many thought it was a dangerous decision that we were giving preferential benefits to corporations and that we should not be doing it. The reason we could get €22 billion in corporation tax receipts is in part due to the fact that we have a corporation tax rate at the level we do. That was an important political decision. There were other countries, not only around the world but also in the EU that would give their left arm to have the type of foreign direct investment that we have in Ireland. The reason why many are now copying decisions we made in respect of our corporation taxes is because they want to attract them in.

4 o’clock

There are other reasons Ireland is such a booming economy. It goes to issues such as our education system and the rule of law. The Governor of the Central Bank was at the Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach a few weeks ago. I asked him what decisions ensured that the Irish economy was on the safe footing it is now. He identified the rule of law and the education system. Let us not fool ourselves and let not the public think that we find ourselves in the economic position we are in now as a result of accident or happenstance. It happened because of political decisions made by previous governments; I am proud to say most of them were made by Fianna Fáil. We should recognise that those who advocated for the Irish economy to be managed on the basis of a hard socialist analysis have been disproved and it has been established that is the wrong way to run an economy. The reason people benefit from the proceeds of this economy and the reason we can support the less well-off is because of those decisions.

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