Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

That is the position, and when I am asked about this situation, I presume that people have taken on board the clear Government position stated by the Tánaiste in this House last week. I was asked the following week who pays for it; the taxpayer does. I said that the impact would be as follows. Whatever liability the State is deemed to owe families, estates or people who are still alive, we will pay according to the law and the money will be diverted from other purposes. That much is a statement of the blindingly obvious. That was the generality of the statement; no more specifics were involved. It was subsequently interpreted in the way that the Deputy has suggested, and as I have said, that is not my position. Neither did I state that on that occasion or any other.

Regarding the question of Estimates, as I have said, only guesstimates have been mentioned on this matter hitherto. We are not able to estimate accurately what it would mean. Regarding the figure that the Tánaiste mentioned yesterday, if the Deputy counts back over the period, she will see that the numbers of people who have come through the system are estimated, according to the figures that I saw, at approximately 275,000. What amount will be due to any of those people is a matter still to be decided based on legal advice and is being considered by the Government. That is the exact overall situation, and there is no other. Further Supplementary Estimates or payments beyond this year will be taken in the normal course of events based on the resources available. As the Deputy is aware, in my Budget Statement I estimated 5% growth in the economy this year.

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