Shane Ross (Independent)

I congratulate Senator Quinn on having done two U-turns out of three. It is a time for U-turns because the economy has turned. I was not among those who welcomed the national pensions reserve fund as I believed it would be the first fund that people would suggest should be raided when times got tough. That is exactly what is happening. Everybody else supported the scheme at the time and told me not to worry about the fund being raided because it was to be sacrosanct. Now is the time to raid it. It does not make sense to continue to put money into a fund that has lost almost one third of its value, while borrowing money and sustaining the national debt. What sort of economic nonsense was behind the idea in the first place? We are now completely exposed because Opposition spokespersons are asking the Minister to raid the fund.