Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

As I have stated on previous occasions, the work of the Government is focused on the issues of today in terms of dealing with the supplementary budget and setting out our priorities. I have made it clear that the programme for Government, which was predicated on a growth rate of 4% per annum, clearly cannot be fully implemented during the course of this term. It is obvious we are in a completely different situation from the one on which all parties based their programmes when they went to the people in 2007. Our programme was more conservative than most but the point is the situation has totally changed and every programme for Government contains within it the provision that all commitments are predicated on sustainable public finances. There is no point in suggesting these are free riding and unconditional in all respects or that in the event of 100% of a programme for Government not being implemented, one has failed to implement it. The programme for Government is couched on the basis of maintaining and upholding the public finance position because that is the only way one can have a sustainable position, whatever one is going to do.

That is the clear position of the programme for Government and we are consequently clarifying for the Opposition the areas in which we will proceed. On the basis of annual output statements and in the aftermath of budget debates, Ministers are able to go before committees to set out the issues and areas they intend to progress during a given year. In many cases, we will have to defer measures and will have to retrench in some areas because we are clearly in an unsustainable position. To critique the Government because all commitments in the programme for Government will not now be implemented is a very skewed reading of the programme because the Deputy is deciding to take out of the equation the fact that the public finance position is paramount in respect of all programmes for Government, be they ones I have negotiated in the past or ones I have sought to observe from the Opposition benches. Every programme for Government is based on that.

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