Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I hope we can proceed with its implementation.

We cannot have it every way. People may say we are not spending enough money in certain areas but fiscal policy involves a taxation policy and an expenditure policy and we are committed to a balanced overall budgetary position. Such a position gives us sufficient room for manoeuvre, as we had in 2001 and 2002. People had been saying that we should not have been building up surpluses but when the international recession came, the cushion of those surpluses allowed us to get through that difficulty successfully. Any comparison one makes with any other European Union country will confirm that. I now have five or six colleagues within the euro area alone who are in breach of their Stability and Growth Pact 3% deficit commitments.

We have sufficient room to manoeuvre in the event of imponderables happening. They exist, even as I am aware of the arguments in the NCB report. It describes an idyll and suggests that all will be well, regardless. There are imponderables related to exchange rates with the dollar and sterling and a range of other areas for which I do not have the answers. I am also sure that the benign international environment painted in that report is at the most optimistic end of the scale. The more measured ESRI report gives three options of what growth rates will be which is perhaps a more realistic assessment.

This economy does not run on automatic. Many long-term decisions are being taken by this Administration, rather than being sucked into exclusively electoral considerations, although if they are honest, all Governments will admit to giving some cognisance to electoral considerations. The National Pensions Reserve Fund, the Transport 21 plan, which is a ten-year outline for capital expenditure, the strategic innovation fund for the university system and the child care programme, which involves a significant investment of €2.5 billion over the next five years, are all indications of attempts by the Government to meet immediate priorities and address long-term structural issues.

There will be other such issues, particularly care of the elderly, given our changing demographic profile, social changes, and shifts in parental and family support systems. Traditional solutions will not necessarily suffice in the future in terms of care of the elderly. The home setting may not always be the most appropriate option. We are all aware that the situation is fluid and has very serious implications for the Exchequer.

It is necessary to take all of these issues into account, as well as the fact that we are connected to the world and there are many imponderables, which is important given our exposure as an open economy. While we have enjoyed a good position in recent years, we cannot simply fritter and throw money like confetti to appease every demand that is cogently made from the narrow parameters in which it is promulgated. We must look at the whole picture. We are working towards specific objectives. Some we have already achieved, others we are continuing to work towards.

Next year's budget will give a final picture for the purposes of the remainder of the term of this Administration. Regardless of whether we meet specific commitments, even if people do not want to put them into the overarching context in which they are put, both in the programme for Government and in the Sustaining Progress agreement, the record of the last two Administrations is one of very solid achievement.