Seanad debates
Wednesday, 26 March 2003
Finance Bill 2003 [ Certified Money Bill ] : Committee and Remaining Stages.
These are the problems of economic success, but as a famous actor once said "I have been rich and I have been poor and rich is better." I remember the days when there was no congestion on the Naas dual carriageway because there was nobody travelling to work and my attitude is that rich is better. Few people could afford a car and there was perhaps one for every three or four households where I used to live. Now there are households with four and five cars. The problems of society which have been mentioned must be looked at in the context of that success. We increased spending by 40% over two years and with the turn in the economic tide, I made adjustments. Last year the spending target was 14.4% and we came in at 13.9%. The figure this year should be about 7%. We cut our cloth according to our measure.
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