Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

About 15 minutes ago the Exchequer figures for the first quarter were published. They show an Exchequer deficit of €354 million recorded for the first quarter of 2008 and that tax revenues to the end of March are €600 million or more than 5% less than the published profile. This obviously represents a very serious turn in the country's public finances. What impact does the Taoiseach think these Exchequer figures will have on the social partnership talks which are due to begin? When does he expect the talks to commence formally and what is the timetable for them? Will he tell the House how it is proposed to address the problem that Deputy Michael D. Higgins has outlined, that the pay element of the last social partnership agreement has been beaten now by inflation and that inflation is running at almost 5%?

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