Paul Bradford (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State. I am pleased that we can discuss this report. It is, however, only a report; it is not a Bible of economic certainty, nor is it the only economic road map charting the country's fiscal future. It is simply an analysis. the report provides much food for thought and we need to study it, picking and choosing from it where appropriate, but the bigger political picture must also be taken into account.

A former Taoiseach once told the Oireachtas that economics was a dismal science. I am not sure who wrote those words for the former Taoiseach, Mr. Haughey—