Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I have not got the outcomes of the meetings in September before me. Now that the Deputy mentions it, I will have to check whether the proposal to prepare the four-year plan had been agreed at that stage. I was just making the point that the issue did not arise at the Council.

The only statement given by me in this regard was that Ireland was committed to its obligations under the Stability and Growth Pact and would be proceeding along those lines. It is important to point out that Ireland has been taking steps, since this issue first arose in the summer of 2008, to achieve stabilisation of the deficit and, more recently, to prepare a deficit reduction programme. The Deputy's point is a fair one and I will provide the answer for him.

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