Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)

The Minister said he has no options but he does. Instead of cutting €750 million from the capital fund he could keep it as it is and make savings in other areas. Sinn Féin produced a document which makes a similar type of adjustment, reduces the deficit to GDP ratio and is not contingent on bondholders or the policies we advocate on the banks. The Minister could implement these policies tomorrow morning but has decided to follow the same track as Fianna Fáil.

It cut capital spending over three years by approximately 50%. The amount spent was reduced from €9 billion to just over €4 billion. The Government is planning to take out 25% over a short period of time. Does the Minister acknowledge that, based on estimates from the Department of Finance, a cut of €750,000 in capital spending will result in-----

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