John Gerard Hanafin (Fianna Fail)

In particular, I call for the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources to attend. Last week, Gordon Brown made a major speech in which he referred to the Keynesian nature of the future of the British economy. In the past 12 years we have had 11 surpluses. This is the first year in which we have had a deficit. It is standard practice that in times when the market cannot function as it did, the Government steps in. It is a simple method of Keynesian economics. In this country, we are past masters of that. When others would not invest in this country, the Government set up semi-State companies such as Aer Rianta, Aer Lingus, Bord na Móna and ESB, the success stories that have brought us to where we are.