Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

The EU-IMF programme states that anything realised from the sale of State assets would be used to pay down the debt, but my question was about the reduction in the interest rate, the savings arising from that and how they will be used. Problematically, confusion is developing about the clear statements in the programme for Government and the revised EU-IMF agreement. In terms of the economic background and in advance of the Government implementing new policies, the Minister, Deputy Noonan, has released figures that, according to him, show that Government finances are ahead of expectations while Deputy Howlin has released figures showing that public service numbers are being reduced in line with expectations. Today there has been news from Commissioner Rehn. In light of the fact that there is no change in the fiscal-----

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