Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

I wish to pursue the Taoiseach in respect of a number of the responses he provided to Deputy Kenny. The letter which Deputies Kenny and Ó Caoláin and I received from a Minister in the Taoiseach's Government refers to a three-stage process. One of these is agreement on the 3% target, with which the Labour Party concurred when the Government reached agreement on it with the European Commission. The second takes in the briefings being provided for all parties by the Department of Finance. This is something the Labour Party has been seeking since April and I am glad the process has started; Deputy Burton has already had her first briefing in the Department of Finance in these matters and we are happy to engage in that process.

I am a little confused about the third part of the issue. The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Gormley, has said the purpose of these meetings is to seek a political consensus on the budget and the four-year budgetary plan. Is that the Government's intention? My understanding of going into a process of consensus is that all parties must agree and all parties may exercise a veto. Is that the process the Government is entering? There is a suggestion of meetings with party leaders and finance spokespersons but I want to be clear on the Government's proposal.

Will we have meetings to reach a consensus on the budget and the four-year budgetary plan? We have had some experience on the island with consensus-making processes. Is it the case that nothing is agreed until everything is agreed and nothing is agreed until all the parties agree? Is that the process we are entering?

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