Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

The Deputy raised a number of points. As I said to him in my reply, the Department of the Taoiseach does not monitor NESF reports, whose proposals go to the line Ministers. The Deputy's overall question had two aspects, international comparisons and our model, which he contrasted against those of other EU countries. We have half the rate of unemployment in those countries. Our levels of consistent poverty are now tumbling according to all indices.

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