Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

There were but I will do the best I can.

On the Deputy's first point, on capital investment, we are maintaining capital investment between 5% and 6% of GNP. This is more than twice the average in the European Union. Despite the very serious financial circumstances we face, we have maintained that commitment this year, as difficult as that is, because we believe the capital programme provides the building blocks for future growth. We could have sought to resolve our present budgetary problem simply by cutting capital expenditure out of existence but we believe it is on the current side that we must engage in further reform and achieve further efficiencies and that it is through the tax system that we must raise more money.

On the question on climate change, we continue to pursue policy. The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government has been doing so very well. On energy policy, I do not know whether Deputy Ó Caoláin's party supports the bringing onshore of oil and gas. It certainly does not have much interest in bringing them onshore in the west, despite the fact that all the various legal channels have been pursued. Perhaps the Deputy's idea of ownership of oil and gas for the Irish people is to leave it in the ground for another 5 million years, after which they would still own it.

See this speech in context