Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)

The period for adjustment for meeting the Stability and Growth Pact target has been extended by one year to five years. The original period the Government agreed with the European Union institutions was four years. Does the Minister accept that the EU having to arbitrarily extend the period by one year demonstrates a complete failure of the Government's negotiations with the EU institutions? The Government was told by my party at the time that it had failed as it would take six years to meet the target. Similarly, does the Minister agree that the targets arrived at in the deal with the International Monetary Fund and European Union institutions under the bailout constitute an utter failure on the part of the Government because they cannot be met?

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