Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

As I stated, the existing programme continues to be implemented. We are simply taking account of the fact that we have had a serious downturn in the world economy, the worst, as I noted, since the 1930s. This means we have to review the assumptions that underlie the programme, define our priorities and move forward with the review, the Commission on Taxation and the various reports coming to Government and feeding into the Estimates and budgetary processes. This will be an important aspect of the Government's work in the coming months, quite apart from the fact that we wish to conduct this review in any event. An internal party consultation is taking place and as soon as the Dáil rises we will be able to put our minds to engaging in a review process over the summer and into the autumn. We will return to the House with a revised programme when the Dáil resumes.

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