Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

As the Opposition spokespersons were informed by the Minister for Finance yesterday, the Government, having considered all the relevant matters, came to a decision that €15 billion is the amount of the adjustment that will be required between now and 2014. We have also stated clearly that we will set out the annual components of the four-year plan that will be published in the coming weeks. Those components will be informed by ongoing discussions among members of the Government and will be based on various variables and incoming data.

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