Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

On the first matter, as I said to the Deputy, I made clear to the Presidency my views regarding our preferences in respect of that position. The Deputy will be aware of this as we have previously discussed this matter at Question Time. Clearly I would not stand in the way of a consensus should one emerge. As one must, I left it with the Presidency to make the assessment in regard to what proposal it would bring forward. What emerged was a proposal that did meet with the full agreement of Council. That was our position and I have no problem with that.

As regards the funding, that matter is being dealt with by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. Project management staff are being put in place to deal with the matter.

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