That is not to say everything in the garden is rosy because it is not. We must recognise the difficult international environment in which we operate. There is great tension in the Middle East and the wider world because of the Iraq crisis. The American economy has slowed after a period of very impressive growth, the Japanese economy remains stagnant and growth levels in the EU's largest economy, Germany, have dropped to near zero. This is a challenging international environment. It is particularly challenging for Ireland, one of the most open economies in the world and where hundreds of thousands of jobs depend on our ability to export and to hold onto our global marketplace. I am confident that we will be able to meet the challenges of the international environment, that we will keep the competitive edge essential for success in the international marketplace and that we will maintain the stability in our public finances which is the vital foundation on which a competitive economy is built.