The budget will help to build and maintain confidence in the Irish economy and provide a sound basis for job-creating investment. Some people have tried to whip up talk of a crisis in public finances over the last six months. I reject that suggestion completely and believe that any objective analysis of the situation would bear out that rejection. If people want to know what a crisis looks like they should go back to the 1980s. That was a time when the country nearly went under, not just in terms of Government finances but also in social and economic terms. The 1980s are distant history for the younger generation but they still live in the folk memory of all those who were old enough to take even a passing interest in politics at that time.