Mary White (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy O'Malley and officials of the Department of Finance to the House. I had the experience today, for the first time, of sitting in the Dáil Chamber during the Budget Statement. I had always found budget day a very serious affair but there was a buzz of excitement in the Dáil today, because the Minister for Finance had steered the Irish economy through a turbulent period of three years while the world economy was in recession. The Minister and members of the Fianna Fáil party were excited—