Cyprian Brady (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Deputy Parlon, to the House and congratulate the Minister for Finance on what is another step along a very successful path he has followed during his time in the Department of Finance. Probably the most obvious and quantifiable sign of the success of the policies that have been followed to date is employment and the changes we have seen in this area. According to the Minister, we now have a country at work and an economy that is working. Anybody who went through the Estimates in detail over recent days will have seen where our priorities lie. They will also have seen that the priorities we have chosen are based on talking to and listening to people and taking their views on board. This is very evident from the way the Estimates have been framed and in the policies that have been followed up to now.

We are not where we are today by chance, but rather by taking measures at times when it was difficult to take them, when we put up with much criticism and when the Government, in particular, was criticised for spending too much and, shortly afterwards, criticised for not spending enough. One must take account of circumstances over recent years which were outside our control, such as the events of 11 September 2001, fuel and oil prices and problems with the economies of other countries. By sound government and the hard work of the people of this country, we are where we are today.

For us to be able to have sustained and continued an average yearly growth of 7% over the past ten years is a phenomenal achievement when one considers that we had increases in population and significant immigration. We have continued to pursue foreign direct investment probably more successfully than any other country in the world. The fact that a country of this size is in a position to say that, at one stage, it was the leading producer of software, not just in Europe but in the world, and was competing with the likes of the US, India and China must be taken into account. Some credit must be given for the prudent and sound way the Government has managed our economy over recent years.

I worked in employment exchanges in the early 1980s when the queues were out the door and when people had the choice of signing on at the employment exchange or emigrating. It was as simple as that. When I left school, the only choices we had were to go into the Civil Service or the bank or to emigrate. They were the three choices we had. Very few people were lucky enough to get into the Civil Service and even fewer were lucky to get employment in the banks. For many people, there was no question at that stage of going on to third level education. Very few people at that stage could do so. That has changed considerably.

A relatively short time ago, we had unemployment rates of up to 20%, which were higher in what were called "blackspots" at the time. There were nightly news reports of unemployment blackspots and the jobless figures for these areas spiralled upwards. It took us a long time to tackle and stop that spiralling figure. One can look at the changes today and see an unemployment rate of 4.5% and a long-term unemployment rate of 1.4%, which is one of the lowest such rates in Europe. Long-term unemployment was a significant issue when I worked in employment exchanges. The long-term unemployment figures we sent in every week from the Department of Social Welfare were enormous and the rate kept increasing.

I see the benefits of today's changes every day. Recently in the North Wall an old lady told me that the recent situation reminded her of the 1940s and 1950s when the port of Dublin and its docklands were at their height and streams of people went to work very early in the morning. She told me how after generations of unemployment in a devastated area where there was no hope and which contained drugs and low-quality social housing, young people and both parents of families were now working again. There was a chance for their children to get a job, finish their schooling and possibly enter third level education. The people had come out of the problems that faced the area.

If a person had been told by someone else five years ago that there would now be a third level college within 300 metres of Sheriff Street, he or she would have laughed at them. Today, the National College of Ireland, one of the leading colleges in the country, is located there. Again, young people from this locality have the opportunity to attend this college. These are the changes we have seen.

The management of our economy is not just for today; it is also looking to the future. We should not apologise for this. The National Pensions Reserve Fund of €17.6 billion, which we have put in place over recent years, is for our future and that of our children. We should not have any qualms about telling people that this is what we are doing.

Next year, we will spend €149 million every day in this country. Again, we should not apologise for this. We have listened to the doom and gloom merchants for many years. Like everything else, if one says something and repeats it long enough, it is bound to happen at some stage. Economies, including the world economy, are cyclical. There have been troughs and peaks in this economy but we have managed our way through the crises. This did not happen by accident; it required firm decision making and leadership.

I recall that during the currency crisis in the 1980s there was a sense that there was no hope for our economy. The rate of inflation was massive and interest rates were touching 18%. There is much talk of people not being able to afford to buy a house now but at that stage people had no hope of being able to buy not because they could not afford the mortgage repayments but because houses were not being built. There have been major changes since then, for which we should not make an apology.

I wish to concentrate on two areas in regard to the Estimates, the first being education. There is a record increase in the Estimates again this year in terms of expenditure on education. Some €8.4 billion will be spent on education next year. That level of expenditure represents a massive increase and a trebling of the level of expenditure in the past ten years.

Members on the Government side of the House have always believed in the power of education and in everybody having an opportunity to fulfil his or her potential. Generations of members of Fianna Fáil and other parties have worked on that basis for many years and we have proven the benefit of that belief. The current Minister for Education and Science stated her position and priorities from an early stage, as did her predecessor, and the Minister has adhered to those priorities. She has continued to support investing in the future of our children for the benefit of the country, to which priority is rightly given. As the Minister said, she will continue to invest from first level to fourth level. She has prioritised investment in innovation, technology and the sciences with the future in mind. As a former teacher, the Minister realises what needs to be done in these areas.