Jim Higgins (Fine Gael)

This self-congratulatory motion lauding the Government's management of the public finances is typical of the mechanical phraseology one would expect from the technocrats in the Department of Finance and not from someone with political know-how and experience or with a sense of everyday reality. It refers to the Government's determination and its commitment to keep a tight rein and keen eye on public spending and the public finances. This was reiterated by the Minister of State, Deputy Parlon. He spoke of a series of mechanisms to monitor and assess the situation and early warning and red alert systems to ensure that what happened in the past would never happen again.

Some congratulate the Minister for Finance for confounding the prophets of doom and the nay-sayers by bringing in an Exchequer surplus of €95 million. As has been said so often, not by Opposition politicians alone but by a cohort of independent economic analysts, while some of our current economic difficulties are the result of difficult international and external pressures beyond our control, the bulk of our current economic difficulties are self-inflicted. They were caused by the profligacy of both Government parties which in the 12 month period preceding the general election decided they would go for broke. In essence, the national interest was mortgaged once again in a reckless grab for power. We are now paying the price for the profligacy right across the economy.