We must, however, deal with reality rather than perception. The reality is that massive increases in investment in the health and education sectors have facilitated a significant expansion in the range of services in these sectors, that the rollout under the national development plan of capital projects is unprecedented in size and scale and that there has been a real increase of 41% in the level of social welfare expenditure since 1997. We have, therefore, real and tangible achievements to show for our recent levels of public investment. The challenge going forward in a much less benign environment is to continue to invest in our public services in a prioritised way and within a sustainable budgetary framework.