Mary O'Rourke (Fianna Fail)

I am glad to speak in this debate. This is what makes the Seanad such an agreeable Chamber. Everybody has different points of view and those who hold contrary views can give them full expression here. I am pleased that we can do this.

Today we are debating Sustaining Progress. While I do not know who thinks up the names every time there is a new agreement, it is to their credit that they have never had to repeat themselves. The first agreement in 1987 was born out of a time of great concern for the economy. I find it ungenerous of Senator Ross not to state that were it not for the first programme introduced by the then Taoiseach, Charles Haughey, with the input of Senator Mansergh and many others, we would have been truly down the Swanee.

We all know the coalition which was in power from 1983 to 1987 when the country underwent a period of sustained over-expenditure which will never again be matched. It pushed us right to the brink and if the programme had not been inaugurated, worked through and managed, we would be in a very dangerous position, as Senator Ross knows. As we all know, the country was rescued. While we can say much about other matters concerning the people involved, credit is due for this. Leadership was given and reciprocated by the trade unions, the employers' bodies, the voluntary sector and everybody involved, and it worked.