Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I do not find it in any way extraordinary, because we changed the rules. We will have debates both before and after European Council meetings take place. We did not have one after the July meeting. I concede that is the case but we are having the debate today.

In answer to Deputy Adams's question, the Minister for Finance has made it perfectly clear on numerous occasions that in order to get to the 8.6% deficit we may have to have an extraction from the economy of between €3.6 billion and €4 billion. We do not yet know what the figure is because all the information relevant to making that decision is not yet available. However, these are matters the Deputy can raise. I look forward to hearing his contribution on how the Sinn Féin party proposes to deal with the situation in which the country finds itself and to hearing its suggestions for getting ahead of the curve of the markets in the European context. It will be very interesting to hear what Sinn Féin has to say. I note the party, which is an all-island one, is party in the North to serious cuts.

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