John Dardis (Progressive Democrats)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Tim O'Malley. I listened to the contribution of the Minister for Finance in the Lower House this afternoon and I was impressed by what I heard. The progress he has made over many budgets is maintained in that which he introduced today. The economy is in safe hands and the Minister has introduced a set of measures which will ensure that it will be well placed to avail of an improvement in international economic conditions. As Senator Mansergh observed, the Minister has ensured that borrowing will be minimised.

The Minister also achieved that which I thought it would be difficult to achieve, namely, not adding significantly to inflation on the part of the Government. I was concerned that any significant increase in direct taxation would have an effect on domestic inflation and place Ireland at odds with other European Union member states. I am pleased that the measures which have been introduced will minimise the risk in this regard.