Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

The Taoiseach has now admitted that. The former Deputy, Mr. McCreevy, said that it would be a catastrophe for the Government if it had not implemented the programme by Christmas. The Taoiseach will have none of it implemented by that stage and is chalking up great additional costs for the taxpayer. He is purchasing property for which there may be no occupier and he is not clearing the buildings for sale in Dublin that he imagined.

The whole thing is a mess and an all-party review, given the central importance of the issues, would be a way forward. It could then be done on a workable basis that had been negotiated and planned, in keeping with some kind of spatial strategy and with regard to the real problems that the Taoiseach is now creating for civil and public servants.

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