Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)

I do not want to accuse the Taoiseach of misleading the House but if the Department of Finance publishes Estimates that indicate that revenue the Taoiseach expected to rise by €7.5 billion by 2012 will be €6.3 billion off target by 2010, does he accept, as leader of the Government, that those Estimates are accurate? Does he believe that Department of Finance projections should be the basis for Government framing strategies that are affordable and realistic or does he want to continue to fool people into thinking that he will deliver lower pupil-teacher ratios, lower tax on the standard rate and the top rate, lower PRSI, 2,000 extra consultants and 1,000 extra hospital beds when the Minister for Finance comes in here and tells us the money is not available?

Will the Taoiseach issue an instruction to his colleagues to publish the costings of the programme for Government in their sphere of activity to allow us have a realistic debate in this House on what the Taoiseach says programmes will cost and the resources the Minister for Finance says will be available? I will not sit here allowing the Government to fool the people about what is and is not affordable. We need a proper strategy to guide us in a difficult economic time. We cannot go on with a cock-and-bull document that is no longer realistic.

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