Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)

I understand from the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, that up to €1.5 billion of the €3.6 billion, or perhaps €4 billion, in savings will be achieved through "revenue-raising measures" and that the remainder will be achieved through expenditure cuts. As the person responsible for public expenditure, the Minister needs to give us a much more concrete sense of how he proposes to achieve this target, particularly given that he does not intend to publish the results of the comprehensive spending review in a single document, as he made clear in his response to earlier question. Is the figure of €2.1 billion correct, or will it be €2.5 billion? Given that the Government has made a commitment not to touch welfare payments, how does the Minister envisage achieving this target?

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