Michael Noonan (Limerick East, Fine Gael)

Does the Minister recall the infamous meeting in Galway, which I believe is in the annals of political history for reasons other than those to which I refer? On his arrival in Galway, the Minister said he believed the correction of €3 billion, bringing the figure of €7.5 billion to more than €11 billion, was a minimum. It now transpires the Minister was forming a view at that time that he would have to double the figure and did not tell anybody. He seems to be working on the basis of telling us he is sharing information with the Opposition, yet every time we take his figures at face value, they change.

We found out yesterday that a correction that was an absolute given, the €7.5 billion correction, will now have to be in the order of €15 billion.

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