Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)

I take the Deputy's point which is made in good faith. However, in respect of the Government's capital allocation, there has been a 4% increase in Enterprise Ireland's capital budget for 2012. I will rush through thee figures because I am conscious of the time constraints, but there has been a 10% increase in the number of high potential start-up companies, a 20% increase in the number of innovation partnerships and expenditure of €18 million on the innovation fund. The key point is that the Government is trying to set down the foundations or the bedrock on which one can sustain jobs over a longer period. If one considers Sinn Féin's proposals for capital expenditure, they entail borrowing something like €1.7 billion from the European Investment Bank. It is talking out of both sides of its mouth in this regard - there is a bit of the Tadhg an dá thaobh about it - because, on the one hand, it states it would not pay back moneys to the European institutions from which Ireland has borrowed money while, on the other, it would have no problem in borrowing approximately €1.7 billion from the European Investment Bank. This does not stack up.

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