Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Minister for his reply in respect of next week's visit to Ireland by representatives from the troika. There are two issues I wish to raise, the first of which relates to how the proceeds from the sale of State assets will be used. As the Minister is aware, the Government negotiated a memorandum of understanding last April which stipulates that the proceeds from the sale of such assets would be used to pay down debt. That matter was not dealt with in the original memorandum of understanding agreed last December. The Government negotiated the provision to which I refer, but it has now departed from it and appears to be of the view that some or all of the proceeds should be used to fund job creation initiatives. Is the Minister in a position to indicate whether that matter is high on the Government's agenda for next week's meeting?

The second issue about which I am concerned involves the commitments relating to income tax and social welfare into which the Government has entered. The Taoiseach recently seemed to indicate a change of position in this regard when he stated this was a matter for negotiation between the Government and the troika on foot of the contents of the memorandum of understanding. That is disingenuous because the memorandum clearly states that, in effect, it is the responsibility of the Government to draw up a package of measures that will be fiscally neutral and allow it to reach the €3.6 billion target. Does the Minister intend to raise this issue at next week's meeting?

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