Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

Deputy Martin will be aware that the Cabinet has a constitutional responsibility to draft a budget and, as I have already stated, that budget will be presented in December. We have made it clear that we are not going to speculate on the contents of the budget until the Cabinet makes its decisions on a range of activities. Everybody in the country can have different views about these things but drafting the budget is the Government's collective responsibility as a unit. Targets have been set in respect of the reduction to 7.5% for 2013 and the removal of €3.5 billion between tax and cuts.

Deputy Martin made a big speech but it did not reflect the questions he originally asked. He asked me the number of Cabinet committee meetings I attended in the past three months, the Cabinet committee meetings held since January 2012 and whether the Cabinet committee on economic recovery and jobs has met recently. I answered those questions and the other five questions were similar. He then made a big speech about all the things that came into his head. He asked whether the Cabinet committee on economic recovery and jobs has met recently and when the Economic Management Council is meeting the banks. That will be this evening and I have referred to it three times already. He asked whether the Cabinet committee on European affairs has met recently, and so on.

I have a fundamental disagreement with Deputy Martin's views. These Cabinet sub-committees work to an agenda and an objective and, as far as I am concerned, they are achieving their worth and value. The presentation given recently in respect of public sector reform was very extensive and outlined a range of achievements which I did not think would be possible in the time allowed.

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