Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

The point is that the Minister for Finance said in his Budget Statement in April that we are to have total spending cuts of €2.25 billion. Since then he has repeatedly said it is now €4 billion in spending cuts. I would like to know which policy it is. He mentioned €2.5 billion in taxation and €2.25 billion in spending cuts in his April statement but since then he has said there will be cuts of €4 billion. Can I have a straight answer? Will there be €4 billion in total spending cuts without any taxation increases or will it be €2.25 billion?

During the Taoiseach's absence in America last week I asked the Tánaiste about the NAMA situation currently under discussion in the House but she did not have the full information available. It seems as if there is a growing body of opinion that the NAMA proposal as put forward by the Government will not work. In the light of comments made even yesterday by a Nobel laureate in economics that it would be criminal to pay over the odds for assets as per the Government's proposal, has the Government received a guarantee from Allied Irish Banks and Bank of Ireland that they will lend the money they will get under the NAMA proposal to business and small enterprise? Has any indication been given as to when that might happen or how much money will be available for lending to small and medium enterprises under the NAMA proposal? In the middle of the avalanche of calls yesterday I was contacted by nine small businesses that are strangled for money and cannot get it from the banks despite all of the talk. Will the Taoiseach answer those three questions in respect of NAMA; when he expects the banks can start lending, whether he has a guarantee that they will lend the money they receive, and what order of finance is envisaged?

See this speech in context