Eugene Regan (Fine Gael)

——and a discretion left to member states in the way they implement EU regulations. To blame Brussels at this juncture is disingenuous.

I support the call for a debate on the economy. The Taoiseach, in The Irish Times newspaper this morning, denied he is to blame for the economic downturn. We cannot blame the Taoiseach for everything. We do not believe all aspects of the recession are down to the Minister for Finance. However, we believe the management of the public finances is the responsibility of the Government and, in particular, the Minister for Finance. The Taoiseach, Deputy Brian Cowen, said before the general election that his party's policies were based on responsible budgets that would pass on an effectively debt-free country to the next generation. What is clear from the ESRI report, if nothing else, is that in 2006 we had a budget surplus of €5.2 billion——