Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)

The Deputy is quite wrong if she interpreted it as a rejection of the SIPTU line in regard to economic stimulus and not infrastructural spend. Its demand was for economic stimulus. I have met the presidents of SIPTU and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions on this matter.

Can I say very emphatically that Government policy has three strands? Certainly, we need to have a balanced budget by working towards a 3% deficit by 2015 as laid out in the Stability and Growth Pact. Equally, we recognise there is a need for a stimulus package and we have been working on ways to do that. It is important that a third of the proceeds of the sale of State assets will be involved in infrastructure and stimulus. At the instigation of the trade union movement, we have been engaged with the pension funds because we want to ensure more of the pension funds, which ordinary workers pay into, are expended in this economy. I have had direct discussions with the European Investment Bank and other international lenders. I have met with the vice president of the European Investment Bank and I have more meetings coming up.

I say all of this to give the Deputy the absolute assurance that we regard stimulus as a very important co-strategy to ensure we meet the targets of economic recovery we have laid out.

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