Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

With regard to the membership of the EMC, there was a public dispute recently between the Government parties about who sits on the EMC and what its role is. Labour Party Ministers told journalists that the briefing which the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Phil Hogan, made against the Tánaiste some time ago was motivated by jealousy over not attending the EMC. Did the Taoiseach speak to those involved at that time? Ministers regularly complain to journalists that the Cabinet is marginalised on economic issues because of the Economic Management Council. They say that what it does, in essence, is take economic items off the Cabinet agenda without really adding anything extra. Has the Taoiseach examined the membership of the EMC and its relationship with the Cabinet's deliberations on broader economic issues?

I believe the EMC was a minor initiative which was over spun, like many others at the time the Government was formed. It is a small Cabinet committee with little support and, already, a poor record after 12 months in existence in terms of growth projections and so forth. We discussed mortgage arrears earlier. There has been no sense that the EMC has had any effectual impact on the mortgage arrears crisis. We dealt with that earlier in Leaders' Questions. Will the Taoiseach discuss the growth projections and will he comment on the EMC?

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