Dan Boyle (Green Party)

I am not going that far especially. Senator Hannigan welcomed the Taoiseach's address today to the joint Houses of Congress. Everyone here will be happy to be associated with those remarks. He also referred to the need to address tourism issues and the role of Irish emigrants. I am sure these themes will be addressed. The Senator also asked about the recent ESRI report which fits in with a contribution from Senator Regan on the current state of the economy. This side of the House is open for a debate on the economy at any time. The statistics concerning consumer confidence are affected by media and political comment because we are not experiencing a recession. The worst we are experiencing is a slowdown in the rate of economic growth.