Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

That is a lot more ambiguous and long term than the statements about this made by the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources and the Taoiseach himself in December. The Taoiseach is now saying a feasibility study is being done. I would have thought the study would already have been done if it was in the report of the high level action group on green enterprise when it was announced. It appeared much firmer then compared to what the Taoiseach is now saying. Is he now saying that the idea of a green IFSC is still at the conceptual stage and that its feasibility is still subject to examination?

The Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources was clear about this. He said it was planned to create a project team to develop the initiative early in the new year. There was no mention of feasibility; this was to progress it and a project team was to be set up early in 2010 and the project would be rolled out over the middle to end of next year. From what the Taoiseach is saying now, there is no project and all that is happening is that a group in the Department of the Taoiseach is looking at the feasibility of the idea and it will in turn report back to the clearing house for the IFSC.

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