Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

When the programme for Government was put together last year, each individual section of it, and particularly those new elements that were outside the national development plan, which was costed at €184 billion, or ongoing programmes such as the commitments we made to overseas development, which were fully costed, the science and technology fund or the research and development fund, which were fully costed, and any of the other ones, were costed at the time by the Department of Finance. I do not have those figures but most of the programme for Government came within the annual Estimates, the three and five year Estimate reviews, the national plan and some of the specific programmes.

On the position raised by Deputy Bruton, if the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance, or any Minister, was here he or she would say that a programme for Government is based on the ability to be able to deliver and implement programmes as resources are available. In good years more can be done but in more difficult years, as we are seeing internationally and today in what is happening in the budgets in Westminster, and what we have seen in Germany last week and in other countries, it is a more challenging period because of what happened last August and the sub-prime difficulties. That is a fact of life. There is a global tightening and that is what I made reference to a number of times recently. That makes it more difficult to deliver within the period because revenues will contract but over a prolonged period up to 2012 we will always have the peaks and valleys in these issues, and that must be accepted as we go on each year. If we had a number of those years it would severely curtail our ability in terms of new initiatives and more progressive projects. I have no difficulty in saying that we will not have the ability to go beyond the departmental Estimates in 2008. They will have to be held tightly. It is our determination not to have any changes in our capital programme. We have gone for a very high capital programme. It is our view that because of the low debt-GDP ratio we have the ability to be able to borrow mainly from our current budget surpluses to implement a capital programme that is needed for the country because of past infrastructural deficits, our rate of development and population growth. We must continue to do that. That removes any flexibilities in terms of having new programmes in other areas.

On the Deputy's question about the ongoing reviews, the Department of Finance, as it does every year, will have its economic and budgetary outlook mid-year and that will reflect the changed circumstances. I am sure when it sees the first quarter figures, as it would normally do, it will give an indication of its thinking on that but those issues are a matter for the Department of Finance.

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