Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I am not sure but I think I indicated, in the course of conversations on the Finance Bill on Committee Stage, that I commissioned an independent consultant's report on whether it would be right to introduce the commencement order, given the state of the building industry and where it was in the cycle at this stage. The advice I obtained was not to proceed, in view of the present state of the building industry. That report was made available to the Deputy.

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