Alex White (Labour)

The Labour Party will not oppose the Order of Business. Given that the Government parties have been quick in recent years to claim credit for this country's economic growth, does the Leader agree they must take the blame when the story goes the other way? In the months and years leading up to the recent general election, the Taoiseach or the Minister for Finance tried to claim personal credit for constructing almost every crane in the sky. I am making this point in the context of the Exchequer figures we have seen today. Some respected commentators have used the word "slump" in recent weeks, but it seems a slight exaggeration to describe the circumstances we face as a slump. There is certainly a slump in the construction sector, however. Before this year's election, the former leader of the third largest party in the current coalition predicted that if my party and others were to be elected to government, it would prove to be a "slump coalition". We now seem to be having a slump even though Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats are still in power. Will the Government parties act in a logical manner by taking the blame, given that they were so quick to take the credit in the past?