There are no prizes for knowing what the question will be today. The Taoiseach said in this House six months ago that the economy would grow by 3% in 2008, that over 24,000 new jobs would be created and that inflation would be held to 2.4%. He was wrong on the first, second and third counts. The economy will shrink this year, we are losing hundreds of jobs every day, there are an extra 40,000 people on the dole since last Christmas and prices are now rising by 4.5%. The Minister for Finance is astonished at the mess he has been left to clean up. We are now hearing talk about prudent action, resoluteness, comprehension and detailed activity from the Government to sort out this problem.

In advance of using all the rhetoric, it would help if the Taoiseach actually identified what the problem is. In that regard, can I ask him a straight question? Are we in a recession?

The ESRI believes there will be negative growth of 0.4% this year. That would be the most negative forecast we have heard in recent times. The consensus is that we will have some growth. Obviously, we will be providing our half yearly figures from the Department of Finance next week and will make an assessment based on the most up-to-date data we have. By their nature, forecasts are essentially just that — forecasts.

Six months ago, I set out the possibility of 3% growth in the economy but I also set out various downsides and risks that will affect that forecast, all of which have now materialised. Twelve months ago, Deputy Kenny suggested the economy might grow by 4%. Forecasts are forecasts based on various assumptions. Since then, we have had a change in the global economic environment that affects Ireland in the same way as it affects everyone else. Allied to that has been a correction in the domestic housing market in addition to an increase in commodity and oil prices. All of this has an effect and drag on growth. The ESRI has made its prediction that there may be negative growth this year. There are other economists who are not quite as pessimistic. One thing we can be sure of is that now the downside risks have materialised, we will not have the sort of growth in the economy we were entitled to predict earlier in the year and last year. We, as Government, must address that situation. We must work within the budgetary parameters we have set out and set a course for a budgetary strategy that will be sustainable.

I remember a time when the Taoiseach used to come into the House and was the ultimate straight talker. He would answer a question like the one he has been asked by saying "Yes, we are in a recession" or "No, we are not in a recession". Now we have Department of Finance figures of speech surrounding his responses.

The Taoiseach said a number of months ago that it was wrong to talk ourselves down into a depressionary or recessionary cycle and that this was inappropriate because the economy was still performing strongly. It is untrue to say that what is happening is all due to international circumstances. There have been warning signs, which were pointed out by Deputy Bruton over the past two years and by others, but the Taoiseach did not take cognisance of those when Minister for Finance. We are now in a position where the former straight talking Minister, the Brian Cowen of old, is no longer present in the Chamber. He is now a Taoiseach constrained by the current circumstances. I go so far as to say that he has demonstrated and proven over the past number of years, in his capacity as Minister for Finance, that he was neither qualified nor able to run the economy in the way people expected.

Hear, hear.

Deputy Kenny cannot even run a party.

It is not just I who say this. The ESRI has said that the Government blew the finances from a boom everybody knew would be temporary. It is now in a position where it has gone from boom to bust in a short period and has turned a substantial surplus into a €7 billion or €8 billion deficit.

The Taoiseach is in denial and a delusion has been perpetrated on the electorate that all is well and rosy with the economy. However, the people on the street are not deluded. They can see frontline services being cut back, see and feel cost of living increases and feel economic pressures from a whole range of areas. The 580 blue chip jobs which were announced yesterday as being lost to India are the very kind of jobs that we heard Minister after Minister blowing trumpets about and rightly putting abroad as being the mainstay of our economy. However, it was left to the hapless Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, the Tánaiste, to respond to this loss. She said she offered her regrets to the 580 people whose jobs are being transferred to India.

Will regret put anything on the tables of those 580 people? Is regret all the Government has to offer when 580 blue chip jobs are transferred to India? Is regret all it can offer when many of those families are mortgaged to the hilt? In view of the fact that we are getting devastating news following devastating news, will the Taoiseach admit that there is only delusion coming from Government in respect of the real economic situation? What else has the Government to offer our hundreds of thousands of workers in these uncertain times and circumstances other than regret?

The delusion is very much on the part of the Fine Gael spokesperson on enterprise and employment who suggested that the changes we see in the economy currently mean we are back into the 1980s and worse. The ESRI does not say that. It says, that despite the negative short-term forecast, the economy is better placed to emerge from the current difficulties than it was in the past. The ESRI's medium-term assessment of the economy is that it has the capacity to grow at an average annual rate of approximately 4% if we take the right decisions now. That is what we intend to do.

The Government blew the boom.

To portray the difficulties we have as a repeat of the 1980s is delusional on the Deputy's part.

The Government blew the finances.

I do not accept that.

The Government caused the recession.

Do the Deputies want to hear the answer? I listened in silence to what Deputy Kenny had to say, although there was not much content to it, but I will answer it.

There is not a whole lot of content in what the Taoiseach has to say.

The recession was caused by the Government.

With regard to our budgetary policy, in good times we have surpluses and in more difficult and stringent times we have deficits. That is what is called a counter cyclical budgetary policy. That is how one is supposed to run the economy. As a result of running our economy in that way over the past decade, we have created hundreds of thousands of jobs.

There is a challenge for the economy today and we must work within sustainable budgetary macro-economic policy. We will do that. Fine Gael fought the last election on the basis it and Labour would spend more than we said we would. We said we would moderate the rate of current expenditure in the coming years on the basis of a more benign economic scenario, which was shared by the Opposition. Now that we have a global environment which has deteriorated, affecting everybody including us, we will take whatever corrective measures are necessary to ensure we have a sustainable budgetary policy. The question I have for the Opposition is: Will it support the corrective measures that are necessary to maintain macro-economic stability?