Senator Mansergh outlined how various Governments have managed public expenditure. I do not wish to dwell on this because, inevitably, the debate tends to be sterile. My major criticisms of the management of public expenditure of the past five years is not that the Government is currently spending too much but that it has used expenditure as a tap, the flow of which has effectively been determined by the electoral cycle. The previous Government started its terms of office by spending too little and ended it by spending far too much. The result of this approach is gross inefficiency that, almost by definition, ensures value for money is not achieved. We need to stop this cycle and ensure that public expenditure is managed on a year to year basis in accordance with norms and determined outcomes to which we all have an input. All the signs indicate the Government has no intention of proceeding on this basis and that it has set on the same course it took during the last Dáil. It will begin by spending relatively little but in another two or three years, as it faces the prospect of a general election, it will spend more and money will become available for programmes.