Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

-----and "setting appropriate targets for the possible privatisation" of State assets. I am quoting the memorandum. This section of the memorandum dealt with raising Ireland's growth potential. It was not the section on safeguarding public finances, namely, paying our debt.

Changes occurred. Following the new Government entering into office 12 months ago, the memorandum read: "It is important that we make effective use of State assets and, where appropriate, dispose of them to help reduce our Government debt." This was the Government's decision and was not contained in the earlier commitment.

I will nail the most important point. The Minister and his colleagues in government claim they are tied by the memorandum of understanding to which we signed up. They are trying to convince the people they are tied by provisions that were not contained in the original memorandum of understanding. The Minister claims these were being discussed by someone somewhere in the ether.

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