Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

The Deputy did not say that but neither did he suggest that any benefit was to be derived from these schemes. I will cite some benefits, for example. There is a financial services centre in Dublin, with 20,000 of the best paid jobs in the country. There also happens to be an annual revenue take for the Exchequer of €700 million. I suggest to the Deputy that a more balanced reaction to all of this would lead to a more accurate assessment of the benefits — or what he perceives as the problems — of the schemes. That is fair enough and the Deputy is entitled to put that point of view. At no stage in his contribution, however, did he suggest that any benefit derived from them at all. I do not agree with him on that point.

The Deputy asked why I did not introduce a finance (No. 2) Bill on the basis of what he perceives I should do. That underestimates, however, the important economic interaction that occurs because of the existence of these schemes. I will await the outcome of the review before informing myself of that decision and will not pre-empt it, as the Deputy may wish. I will decide what, in my best judgment and based on Government approval, is the best interaction for the continuance, discontinuance, modification or alteration of these schemes, or a change in priorities as to whether private investment should be sought at all. We do live in a market economy and there is much private capital in the country. It may be open to people to consider, at least, whether some public benefit might be derived by the utilisation of that private capital into economic and social priorities that we would identify, in addition to whatever increased Exchequer allocation we are giving to it ourselves. Infrastructural and other deficits are often identified by the Opposition that seemingly require immediate solutions, yet the Opposition is not prepared to examine access to every capital source in order to do so.

With respect to the Deputy, these are the sort of considerations that need to come into play. Throwing old jibes at me because I am a Fianna Fáil man will not work as far as I am concerned. My integrity remains at it always was. The Deputy can throw his jibes and play to his political constituency if that suits him. If it gets him a few votes at my expense, then fair enough. I advise the Deputy, however, to keep using the privilege of the House when he does so, because if he ever does it outside the House I will have a chat with him.

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