Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I explained to the Deputy last week that this programme is subject - as is every programme, including those introduced when Fine Gael itself was in Government - to the overall financial parameters in which we operate. The programme sets out priorities and the areas and initiatives that need to be considered and in which progress needs to be made. However, the overall position is that we are spending €55 billion and taking in €32 billion, and no programme for Government is sustainable on the basis of that alone. Thus, we must make corrections. What will emerge from the budgetary and Estimates process are those areas of activity we are prioritising in the various Departments of State next year based on the resources that are available to us.

See this speech in context