Shane Ross (Independent)

Rather than acting in such a manner, they decided to engage in a kind of mock war. Everybody knows that this budget was easy to produce. In my view, it was a particular reflection of the Government's management of the economy over the last few years. This is not very easy for me to say because I have spent my life opposing Fianna Fáil in many ways. I do not doubt that the ease with which this budget has been delivered, the considerable goodwill it will generate and the political benefit which may result from it can be attributed to the Government's superb management of the economy over many years.

It is easy to say the budget was tactically wrong. It is easy to say it did not cover this, that or the other. Regardless of how much money one has, there is always something more that one could do. Perhaps this budget is not as tactically clever as it could have been. It does not cover all the corners it might have covered in the cynical way one might expect in the months before a general election. It reflects the prosperity of an economy that has been managed particularly well over a period of time. Our economy's prosperity is not a result of global reasons. It has not happened by accident. We need to consider why Ireland's level of economic growth is exceeding that of almost every other country, including other EU member states.