Last Monday's editorial (A Government in Freefall) cast unfair, inaccurate and overtly partisan aspersions on this Government's record and ability. When a newspaper of record spills vitriol so lightly one has to question why. It is necessary to set the record straight.

This is Government with a clear mission which embraces social inclusion and social partnership. This Government is about the republican ideal of bringing the benefits of prosperity to all, in partnership. We strive to ensure that all citizens receive the very same physical, economic and educational opportunities to realise their full potential.

When it was suggested in Monday's editorial that inflation races ahead and threatens Social Partnership it is important to add that it was Fianna Fail who created the process of Social Partnership which has brought us close to full employment. It is most unlikely that inflation will continue to rise and most economic commentators are agreed that today's rates will recede.

When criticism is heaped upon this present Government for the problems caused by years of underfunding it is important to add that this Government is providing the resources, for the first time, to deliver the services and quality of life which the Irish people deserve.

We acknowledge that there are fundamental issues to be tackled - reorganisation, reinvigoration and imagination is required. We are doing that in health, in education, in local government, in e-commerce, across the board. The Local Government Reform Bill, the E-Commerce Act, employment policy, the 56 per cent rise in health expenditure and the provision £2 billion capital health expenditure, the National Development Plan and Planning and Development Act illustrate this.

Our health system today is overstretched. It is only today that our health service is receiving the funding it requires. Back in the mid-1990s - when the money was there - the service should have received massive investment and restructuring to provide the systemic and structural basis for a sound health system today.

Instead, the Rainbow government, in three budgets, only managed an increase of £400 million on health. Since taking office we have increased spending on health by £1.5 billion. Improvements in our health services are not just about funding, but without the necessary funds nothing can be achieved.

Where past increases in expenditure were unproductively and unimaginatively thrown at our healthcare problems, this Government is about changing the system to suit the patient. We acknowledge the pressures caused by increase of population; more people are being treated in our hospitals than ever before.

Funding has increased by 56 per cent in three years; substantial progress has been made in implementing the recommendations of the Commission on Nursing. A deal with junior doctors has been reached. Unprecedented capital investment in hospitals is under way. Investment in hospital theatres and equipment is at unprecedented levels.

Of course there is a lead-in time necessary to transform this investment into services. We acknowledge the difficulties in our health services, but objectively we are providing the resources to improve the situation.

It is also known that this is the Government which has gone further than any previous Government to eliminate educational disadvantage. We have allocated £194 million specifically for that purpose.

A whole series of initiatives have been introduced: the Stay in School Initiative at second level, the New Deal - Our New Deal - A Plan for Educational Opportunity, the increased funding for adult literacy initiatives and the two White Papers, on early education and on adult education respectively. This is social inclusion, this is republican Government.

That we have increased direct funding to schools by almost two-thirds and reduced pupil-teacher ratios in primary schools to their lowest ever level is also known. This, too, was ignored.

THE central argument, that the boom has been with us now for half a decade and that this Government - which has been in office for three years - is somehow responsible for the fact that for 70 years there was simply not the requisite funds to build motorways, to provide an adequate health service, to tackle homelessness is spurious.

In 1997 the people of Ireland elected this Government to restructure, reorganise, reinvigorate. We have done just that. The National Development Plan, root and branch reform of the local government system, health service renewal, the strategies to tackle educational disadvantage and homelessness, the drive to reduce poverty and long-term unemployment are testament to this.

This Government, under Bertie Ahern, has played a significant role in bringing peace to Northern Ireland. We will continue in our efforts to ensure that the principles underlying the Good Friday agreement underpin a lasting peace.

In three years we have achieved much and acknowledge that there is more to do, particularly in the areas of health, housing and public transport, the latter being very much a problem of success. Over the next two years this Government is determined to meet these challenges, through social partnership and social inclusion, to create a better Ireland for all its citizens.

Micheal Martin is Minister for Health and Children