Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)

When will the Gaeltacht Bill come before the House and when does the Government expect all Stages to be completed? As the Tánaiste will be aware, the Bill proposes to abolish Údarás na Gaeltachta, a democratically elected body for which elections must be held by October at the latest. Information and clarity on the new structure must be provided as soon as possible to show respect to the officeholders of Údarás na Gaeltachta. The Tánaiste will also know that a country is defined as being in recession when it has a decline in GDP over two successive quarters. In the last half hour, the CSO has declared that Ireland has re-entered a recessionary period, given that the last quarter in 2011 has seen a decline in GDP growth. When will the Minister for Finance, as he has indicated to the media, bring forward an updated version of the growth targets in 2012? Does the Tánaiste have any idea of those growth targets, now that the Government has steered Ireland back into a recession?

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