If one looks back at the euphoria of the previous five years, one will note that things were so good across a range of Departments and the amount of money at the disposal of the Government from and prior to 1997 was so great that the public was inured to the possibility that the good times could end or decline. I acknowledge the contribution the rainbow coalition made between 1994 and 1997, when figures were beginning to come on line for the first time since the foundation of the State. It is human nature that the public might make such assumptions about the economy given that the State has come a long way since 1922 and went through a period of unprecedented growth and prosperity from 1994 to this year. Such growth was never experienced in our history until 1994, not even during the British colonial period that lasted for hundreds of years.