John Paul Phelan (Fine Gael)

I thank Senators who contributed to the debate. On Senator Hanafin's point, part of the problem is that we do not know what approach the Government is taking. There is a distinct lack of information and whoever the Government is choosing to involve, it has not involved the Oireachtas in any shape or form.

I have spoken previously about Government amendments to motions. This amendment does not make sense. I do not know if those who drafted it read the first sentence of the first two points. The first point "commends the Government on its management of the economy and public finances", while the second point "acknowledges ... the policies now being pursued to restore credibility and sustainability to the public finances". The amendment suggests, at least in the second point, that the Government has removed credibility and sustainability from the public finances. The first point, that the Government should be commended on its management of the economy and public finances, does not stand. I wish to make many more points in that regard.

Previous speakers on this side noted that unemployment and the national debt have doubled in slightly more than 12 months. I am old enough to remember the mantra one often heard from Government parties that the Labour Party and Fine Gael doubled unemployment and the national debt in the 1980s. We did so in a difficult period for the economy and country after appalling financial management by the Lynch Government following the 1977 election and, more important, Mr. Haughey's Government in 1982. If one looks at the figures and statistics, the economy had turned around by 1985. During the last two years of the FitzGerald-Spring Government things were starting to move in the right direction. Subsequently, Mr. MacSharry came in and took some draconian measures which it took a long time for the public sector recover from and from which certain areas such as health have not yet recovered. I do not want hear any more of that kind of talk from the Government, Fianna Fáil in particular, regarding our role in the public finances in the 1980s.

Ireland was the first country in the European Union officially to enter into recession. As previous speakers have mentioned, it is projected that, after Latvia, we will have the largest economic contraction in the European Union next year. The Minister of State is completely wrong in his assertion that this Government has not fostered boom and bust policies.

There were two distinct parts to the Celtic tiger economy. The first seven or eight years, from 1992 to 2001 or 2002, centred on foreign direct investment and promoting job creation from within indigenous industry. The second part, from 2002 onwards, was solely promoted on building houses and selling them to ourselves. That policy is largely responsible for where we find ourselves in terms of our current economic condition.