Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)

Surplus property, which there was no point in retaining, was sold. Was it not better to use the funds properly? I am committed to continuing the reinvestment programme which will be in place until 2010. I wish to cite one international statistic. Defence expenditure by all governments in Europe has fallen quite substantially since the collapse of the Berlin Wall. It has fallen substantially as a proportion of GNP or GDP in individual countries, and this country is no exception. The only way in which this country differs is that we are beating the rate of inflation and are increasing expenditure in real terms, and we will continue to so do.

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