Liam Fitzgerald (Fianna Fail)

I second the motion and am delighted to do so, despite what Senator Brian Hayes said this morning about Fianna Fáil having a brass neck. While we would love to hear an alternative set of economic policies, the amendment indicates Fine Gael members are living in a fairyland. The dustbin would be the best place for it as it contains very little, if any, economic logic. There is no serious attempt to propose an alternative economic policy. We would welcome the presentation of such an alternative economic policy in this debate.

We are proud to stand over what has been an exceptionally spectacular record over seven years. I commend the previous and present Governments for substantial achievements in that period. These achievements span every area of public policy, each of which has a detailed plan for the future. We are not just welcoming past achievements, the fruits of which we are now enjoying. We are also welcoming the planning and foresight and the acknowledgement of the Government's responsibility for the people into the future. We welcome the past and present achievements, and the planning for the future going on now.

Many initiatives have already been taken by the Minister for Finance and his fellow Cabinet members, which will be of huge benefit to the next generation. Examples include the establishment of the National Pensions Board, the substantial reduction in the national debt and the record investment in addressing infrastructural deficit. These are just a few examples of the forward planning of the present Government and its predecessor, in which the Leader of the Seanad served, notwithstanding all the difficulties they encountered, some of which I will mention later. These measures aimed at the future will significantly reduce the burden to be carried by the next generation of taxpayers.

One of the hallmarks of the Government's approach is the achievement by the Minister of Finance of a stable and disciplined budgetary policy at a time of global uncertainty. While that may sound like lovely language, there is considerable meaning to it. We have one of the lowest unemployment rates and one of the strongest public finances in Europe. We have just emerged from the most serious global recession since the mid-1980s. At the moment many of our neighbours are experiencing difficulties with deficits, negative growth etc., as the motion has acknowledged. We have lower taxes, higher social welfare benefits and an expanded public service. We are the envy of Europe and most of the industrialised world.

At the same time the Exchequer results for the first four months to the end of April indicate the Government is still on track to meet its budgetary targets for 2004. The prudent and responsible management style of the Minister in keeping the finances close to balance or in surplus is probably best described as a "hands-off approach". He has repeatedly refused to take the soft but irresponsible option in the short term of borrowing his way out of recession and this has been the strategy of successive Governments. He knows such borrowing would have led to the classic boom and bust scenario that brought the country to the brink of bankruptcy in the mid-1980s. We will not go back to that.

The Government is convinced that more spending will mean more taxes, more borrowing, longer dole queues and more hardship for ordinary people. Responsible budgeting is the key to sustained growth and the generation of revenue for our public services.

This year's strategy of a 5% increase in overall spending leaves the Irish economy well placed to take advantage of the world recovery, which is already occurring. At the same time we are protecting the tremendous gains made since 1997. Another aspect of the hands-off approach of the Minister for Finance, which is interesting and effective, is to give each Minister responsibility for his Department and budget. They are fully accountable and everything is fully transparent. The use of the term "stealth taxes" is a total misnomer and is misleading. There is very little, if any, stealth now. Everything is upfront, transparent and there is accountability and openness in the whole approach.

This hands-off approach extends to the individual taxpayer. The bottom rate of tax for PAYE workers is probably at its lowest level in the history of the State. This approach provides people with real freedom, choice, independence and openness rather than having the Minister placing his large ministerial hand into their pockets to take money to put into various services.

We talk about equality, fairness and inclusion. Among the guiding principles underpinning the Minister's approach is the need to generate resources before they can be spent. That was adverted to by Senator Mansergh. The Minister's approach has encouraged and facilitated prosperity in every sector of the economy. It has created and maintained employment. Since 1997, unemployment has been reduced from over 10% to historically low levels. April's live register shows the unemployment rate is down to 4.4%. Over 300,000 new jobs have been created and long-term unemployment has been cut by 80%. During the dark days of forced emigration we all experienced the pain of having immediate family, other relatives, neighbours and constituents leave. Those days are over. Modern Ireland is seeing the return of thousands of emigrants to a country which is a far better place in which to live and work than the one they left.

We have a thriving enterprise culture while our rate of inflation fell to 1.3% in March, which was the lowest level in five years. Despite the global economic slow down, these achievements have enabled the promotion of social equality and inclusion. Levels of consistent poverty have fallen dramatically in recent years and the ability of people to participate in society has improved. The poverty targets set out by the rainbow coalition Government in 1996 have been achieved a couple of years in advance. The prudent, competent management of our economic activity over the last seven years has facilitated massive investment in the social policy area. Were it not for prudent management, we would have had to resort to borrowing to fund this level of investment. Thankfully, that has not had to happen. I commend the Government and applaud the ongoing development of its programmes.