Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)

It seems to me the only reason they would not have been there was that they did not have adequate funds. While the Minister has identified an area where he has spent money from the travel tax, what did he do with the additional revenues raised by the raid on the pension fund, which he targeted for use in the absence of the travel tax? He had an additional €30 million last year, while this year it was going to be €90 million, and €105 million next year. There is a chart which identifies the breakdown of the usage of the €470 million taken from private pension funds. Some of it went to support the Minister's PRSI initiative, while some of it supported VAT reduction. Part of it was earmarked to support the loss of revenue to the State as a result of the abolition of the air travel tax, which never happened. Therefore the Minister has additional money; it may not have been provided to him but it was set aside. Perhaps it has been put into the general Exchequer returns and hidden in that black hole. However, I would like to identify whether it is there for the Minister. If so, he could get his hands on it and we would not be in a situation where Ireland was not represented at such an important event in Brussels.

See this speech in context