Liam Fitzgerald (Fianna Fail)

—among us, we should sketch the track record of the Minister for Finance over the last five years. There is irrefutable evidence of his sound economic judgment and management. Although Ireland is suffering the effects of a global economic slow down, as are all other economies, it is performing on a par with the very best in Europe. The approach to the economy that was appropriate during five years of boom of necessity must now change in the short term. I am satisfied, as are many others, that the principal changes in the fiscal strategy that the Minister is adopting in the short term will prove to right in the long term.

There will be temporary pain but there will be long-term gain. The approach to rapidly changed global economic circumstances, reflected in the downturn in domestic tax revenue, is to slow down an expanded programme throughout Government for a short time. In reassessing we will move forward. The cooling down period is necessary in any cyclical economy and our economy is cyclical because it is subject to so many variables at any one time.

Since 1997 public expenditure has almost doubled. Everyone accepts that money had to be spent because significant under-investment in vital public services had to be addressed. In this context, there is a curious logic to Opposition howls of condemnation of the Minister's Estimates. They were very audible when they denigrated the Minister in the last few years as a spendthrift. The same Opposition parties produced manifestos that were not costed but were based on cloud cuckoo land—