Seanad debates
Wednesday, 26 March 2003
Finance Bill 2003 [ Certified Money Bill ] : Committee and Remaining Stages.
I never said that tax changes are the only drivers of economic growth in Ireland and I do not wish to claim personal credit for this. I do claim personal credit for some tax changes and certainly my party and our partners in Government, the Progressive Democrats, can claim them, but I am not saying that all the development and our recent economic success are the result of tax changes. Each of the items which the Senator refers to, from social partnership to foreign direct investment and lower business tax and so on, has contributed to that success, together with social factors such as the young workforce. Thanks to policies of investing in education, sustained over about 40 years, we had a young, well-educated workforce at a time in European economic history when the rest of Europe was experiencing zero population growth.
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