Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)

I am glad the Minister of State has confirmed that the jobs target has disappeared. When this programme was first mooted in November 2009, the proposed expenditure was €18.2 billion. It subsequently dropped to €7 billion and it is now at €2 billion or 10% of what it originally was. The funding for this appears to come from the sale of strategic State assets. The troika has not yet given permission to invest the proceeds in that way. Why was there a public announcement of NewERA, with expenditure incurred in setting it up and allocating staff, when there is no guarantee that the body will be able to spend any money arising from the sale of State assets?

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