Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

I agree with the views expressed by the Governor of the Central Bank in this matter in their entirety. What the Governor said was that it is available to any future Government, as it is to this Government, to renegotiate the fiscal and compositional elements of the EU-IMF agreement. He did not say that the rate of interest or the total quantity of the adjustment can be renegotiated. What he indicated and what has been clear from the inception of the agreement is that the relevant balance of tax and expenditure and relative weight to be attached to different expenditures can be adjusted, albeit only in a fiscally credible way. That is the position and it is the constraint that will apply to any Government.

The rate of interest and the total amount that must be secured over the programme period of three years are fixed by the agreement. I agree it is somewhat confusing that the programme period is three years because the plan period is four years and the Stability and Growth Pact period is five years. As far as the programme period is concerned, the total amount that must be secured within the period and the interest rates are fixed, while the other matters are up for discussion.

On the Croke Park deal, I do not have information on the matter raised but I have dealt with it in answer to Deputy Noonan.

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