John Gerard Hanafin (Fianna Fail)

The past is another place, and when we talk of the economy in Ireland we are certainly talking of a different place. The Buchanan report of the 1960s, which dealt with the economy, the demographics and the trends, showed an economy largely dependent on agriculture. It showed demographics out of synch with the rest of Europe. Many children were being born yet the number of people who remained in the country after the age of 21 was very low. Many females were unmarried. There were many older people. Our demographics were skewed and our economy was mired by the fact that we had not developed. We had not developed economically at that stage but we set about it then and we have made a very good job of it. Indeed we have become an example for parts of the rest of Europe and our European colleagues now come to us to ask how we succeeded. The success story probably stems from the 1980s and great credit is due to Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats for their work in this area.

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Ahern, to the House and compliment him on the work he is doing to ensure growth and to make us a shining light in Europe. One can only be described as such when compared to the people about one. The nations around us are not growing at the rate at which we are growing. They do not have the net inward migration we have. They have not got our growth rates. We are dealing with the difficulties of growing an economy with regard to people's lifestyles, trying to get everything right, improving our infrastructure and the way in which people can do their work in order to advance as an economy and as a people. A nation is much more than an economy.

Unfortunately the Opposition tends to give the impression that we are not doing as well as we are. One can of course point to areas which have, perhaps, suffered in recent times but our policy is for regional growth. That is well stated and clearly followed through. We have spatial policies to prove this approach. We have gateways and hubs, and decentralisation. They are all geared towards ensuring that every area of the country moves forward.

The strength of our economy is our effort to ensure that everyone who wishes to be involved gets involved. Our next challenge will probably be in the child care area because in many homes, both parents are now working. That challenge will also be met by the Government.

In economic terms, 2005 has begun on a very upbeat note. The December budget was exactly what we needed in order to keep moving forward. The economy is growing at a steady and sustainable rate. Our rates of growth are the envy of our European partners, many of whose economies are effectively stagnant. In a report published just before Christmas, Standard and Poor's, the world's foremost provider of independent credit ratings, affirmed Ireland's top triple A long-term and A1-plus short-term credit rating. Standard and Poor's states that the ratings, the highest achievable, are supported by the diversified and flexible nature of the economy, strong general Government finances, favourable demographic structures and future pension liabilities. In other words, we are getting it all right.

Standard and Poor's emphasises Ireland's strong economic growth and sizeable foreign direct investment inflows which are still continuing. That is a clear indicator of how people see us from the outside. An article on Ireland in The Economist covered a wide range of issues, including our economy, and stated that Ireland was the best place in the world in which to live. It came first out of 130 countries and as I said in this House before, The Economist is no mean production.

Standard and Poor's highlights the fact that the general Government balance has been in surplus for four of the past five years and that Ireland has reduced its debt burden from approximately 90% of GDP a decade ago to approximately 30% of GDP at the end of 2004, giving it the secondlowest debt burden in the euro area.

One would need to have lived through the 1980s, a time when interest rates were at 22% and when one held on for dear life, until one's knuckles were white, to any job that one got. Having lived through that, one would realise how well off we are now and how good we have it. One would want to remember the time when Structural Funds could not be drawn down from Europe. One got 90% of a Structural Funds grant but had to come up with 10% and Ireland could not come up with that 10%.

It often seems to me that many people cannot quite believe that we have done so well. Perhaps the economic failures of the 1970s and 1980s have left many of us feeling that our success is more a result of good luck than hard work. Strange as it may seem today, just 18 months ago the prophets of doom returned. In the middle of 2003 we were two years into an international downturn. Given that we have one of the most open economies in the world we were always likely to be dragged back by the global slowdown. In the summer of 2003 we experienced a couple of bad months with the live register. The poor figures were exacerbated by the normal seasonal adjustments yet notwithstanding warnings that we should not talk ourselves into recession, many people went ahead and tried to do just that. Opposition politicians were especially culpable in this regard. They ignored the evidence that growth was still well above that of our European peers with every chance of a marked acceleration in 2004. They also chose to ignore that the level of notified redundancies in the first six months of 2003 was 8% down on that which applied in 2002. Instead, we were treated to hysterical claims of doom and gloom. Fine Gael stated that there would be 200,000 on the live register by the end of the year and that the economy would be in recession. With obvious relish and glee, the leader of the Labour Party spoke about a job being lost every 15 minutes. This was when the economy was on the upturn. The Government stuck to its steady course and maintained control.

A notable exception to the prophets of doom was Bank of Ireland economist, Dan McLoughlin, to whom we should pay tribute for getting it exactly right. Dr. McLoughlin spoke at a meeting of the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party in Sligo and indicated that the prospects for 2004 would be good. He was correct and results have completely vindicated him.

The Central Statistics Office's most recent employment figures estimate that the workforce increased by 57,000 in 2004. For the benefit of those who like statistics, this translates into a job being created every ten minutes.

We have many people to thank for our success. We should thank the people in the 1960s who had the vision to realise that spending on education would benefit the economy. Such spending on education was a good thing in itself but it also helped encourage growth and job creation. We have got a great many things right such as our policies on taxation and inclusion. We have ensured that everyone in the economy, including the disabled and those who do not hold the same views as us on particular issues, are not discriminated against. Everybody is included and that is a tribute to the success of the Government.