Mr. Aidan Carrigan:

The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, as President of the Council, deals with jobs and enterprise policy. Our role is to deal with the financial sector, budgeting and providing the necessary foundations for growth. It is clearly understood and accepted that many of the problems and crises we have experienced in recent years and the resulting job losses stem from the collapse of the financial sector which fed through to the collapse of construction and various other sectors. Our key objective in the Presidency is to put in place a sound financial sector which can underpin future economic growth and provide the necessary lending for SMEs and provide stability in the financial sector which will oil the engine of economic growth and drive that agenda forward. The targets for job creation and so on are a matter for the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation.