Marc MacSharry (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I must apologise for having a cold. I welcome the Minister of State to the House. Notwithstanding the difficulties, having someone with the experience of Deputy Michael Noonan as Minister for Finance, ably assisted by the Minister of State, is something I welcome. As a nation, we are lucky to have him. Naturally, the targets remain the same for both sides of the House and what divides us politically is how the ends are achieved.

There were choices available in the Finance Bill. The standard banter in both Houses refers to how the troika insisted on this or the memorandum of understanding dictated the other. I have attended our delegation's meetings with the troika on numerous occasions. In each meeting, the troika is specific on the fact that the bottom line must stay the same and how one arrives at the bottom line is up to the Government of the day. In addition, the previous Government is in the past and our job is to hold the current Government to account. Notwithstanding that, and taking us back to the Order of Business, we cannot have the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste taking the spoils, receiving awards and appearing on Time magazine and taking the credit for bringing Ireland under control when the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, described the late Brian Lenihan as a brilliant fiscal manager who had taken some bad decisions on banking. However, he did not blame him for that on the basis that he was provided with poor data at the time. We must acknowledge these things. We cannot celebrate the so-called deal for the Cypriots. How did Fianna Fáil manage to create a crisis in Ireland, Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, Cyprus, the United States, France, part of Germany and Japan? We have really left behind the GAA and the Catholic Church if our focus------