John Minihan (Progressive Democrats)

I hope Senator Norris will be able to continue to enjoy the luxury of his Jaguar at no great expense. I welcome the Minister of State to the House and thank him for his contribution to the debate. There is no denying that over the past 12 months we faced a challenging economic situation. The major international economies performed poorly, the American boom slowed markedly despite comments last evening that showed a sharp increase there in the last two months. The German economy, the largest in the eurozone, is almost stagnant. International confidence has been low and the whole climate of uncertainty was exacerbated over the last 12 months by the conflict in Iraq. The impact here was quite clear. The pace of economic growth moderated, tax revenues were less buoyant and the scope for increased public spending was further limited. The challenge facing the Government is to guide the country successfully through this difficult period and to ensure that Ireland is well placed to take advantage of the international uplift when it comes, as today's OECD report highlighted.