Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

I cannot confirm the opinions of particular members of the special group. It is not the opinions of members that matter, it is the conclusions upon which they have agreed in the report. I understand the report will be submitted to me this evening; I have not seen it so I cannot comment on suggestions made by Deputy Burton on particular recommendations in it. I can understand why there has been speculation about them as in the course of the finalisation of the report in recent weeks contact was made with various Departments to finalise details on the accuracy of figures, programmes and the like. This has led to a degree of speculation about some of the recommendations but to date I have not seen them.

A point I would like to make clear because it stems from the terms of reference of the special group is on the matter of capital expenditure. Capital expenditure was not within the terms of reference of the special expenditure group; the focus is on current expenditure. I understand some recommendations are made on capital expenditure but they arose incidentally from an examination of current expenditure. The report does not purport to be a detailed analysis of or a set of recommendations on our capital programmes.

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