Michael Mullins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Since we met last week, some significant things have happened in our country. There was a successful outcome to the promissory note negotiations, which will see the country not having to pay ¤3.4 billion at the end of March and save the State ¤20 billion over the coming ten years. We also saw the successful completion of the ninth review by the EU-IMF, which gave the Government a clean bill of health. The end of January Exchequer returns showed the income tax take up by 10% and excise duties up by 10%. This all culminated in the Standard & Poor's ratings agency raising Ireland's outlook from negative to stable. We now hope and want to see the Government build on that stability over the remainder of the lifetime of this Administration. The major challenge we face is the curse of unemployment and I welcome the fact that a further ¤6 billion was committed to fighting youth unemployment at the last meeting of the Council of the European Union.

In line with Senator Conway's remarks on mortgages, it would be useful to have a review by the Taoiseach or Tánaiste of the progress that is being made with the programme for Government and the objectives that remain to be achieved.