Paddy Burke (Fine Gael)

It is a pity there is not more time for the debate. The only thing this Government has managed to do is to burst the boom. There has been no real management of this economy in recent years because on several occasions in the past ten years, this side of the House has raised some very serious issues but we were laughed at and told we were trying to talk down the economy.

This Government never got the end of year figures right and was always €1 billion short or €1 billion or €2 billion over. The former Minister for Finance, Charlie McCreevy, raided the Central Bank of Ireland and sold the TSB and Eircom. All of that money is gone. The gap between rich and poor is the widest ever. There are many rich people and many poor people. Our manufacturing and cottage industries are gone. The pressure on small businesses is unprecedented because of stealth taxes and massive burdens from local authorities.