John O'Donoghue (Kerry South, Ceann Comhairle)
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I call Deputy Kenny to put his question. The Deputy will be aware that under Standing Orders he has two minutes.

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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Where is the Taoiseach?

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I put down a marker in respect of the absence of the Taoiseach from the House this morning.

Deputies:

Hear, hear.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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The Taoiseach is due to address the Irish Congress of Trade Unions in Bundoran today. The conference runs from Tuesday to Friday. The Irish Congress of Trade Unions has more respect for this House and its proceedings than the Taoiseach. It would have rearranged the programme for the Taoiseach in the way, at short notice, it has changed its programme to facilitate the Deputy First Minister, Mr. Martin McGuinness, to address the conference. It is a mark of contempt——

Jim O'Keeffe (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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Total arrogance.

Michael Ahern (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy has another five years in Opposition.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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——and arrogance of gross order that on every opportunity the Taoiseach flees from the House and does not come here to do his duty. The Minister for Defence, Deputy O'Dea, can write about it in his column on Sunday if he wishes.

I ask the Tánaiste, as the anointed one in filling in for the Taoiseach, about the figures published yesterday which show that the Government has turned last year's surplus of €900 million into a deficit of €1.4 billion. In the first half of the year the Government increased the rate of current spending at two and a half times the rate of growth in tax revenue. It is clear that if this pattern continues, the figures at the end of the year will be much worse than those forecast by the Government a few months ago. I ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance to confirm that the tax cuts his party promised before the general election will not now take place. What is the position on the promise made to the people before the general election about tax cuts?

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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It is a rerun of 2002.

Jim O'Keeffe (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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Conning the people again.

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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The commitments made in the programme for Government stand on the basis of the overall macro-economic stance the Government is taking. It is important to point out that yesterday's results are in line with expectations and profile. By the end of the year we hope to come in within the limits we set ourselves, as has been the case in the past. There will not be windfall gains which have been directed at debt reduction in the past, but it is important to point out that even in regard to stamp duty, for example, about which there has been some discussion and speculation, from a very high base last year, the figure is up by 5.5% in the first six months of this year, although we had hoped it would increase by 10%. It is important that we should be careful not to overreact to the current easing from the very high levels of activity seen in the past. The preliminary figures in the CSO first quarter report which was published yesterday also but did not receive widespread publication show that the first quarter growth figure is 7.5%.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I understand the macro-economic targets and objectives the Tánaiste set out but I am asking about the tax cuts his party committed to before the general election. Will he now stand by them on the basis of the advertisements he published before the election indicating that 97% of taxpayers would benefit from the tax cuts to be introduced by Fianna Fáil? Will those specific tax cuts — 40% and so on — be introduced by the Government in line with the commitments he gave to taxpayers?

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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The macro-economic strategy which was robustly scrutinised during the course of the campaign and which withstood scrutiny, unlike others, indicated that in the period of government we had an intention to continue with tax reforms, moderate growth in current spending, increase capital spending and, I hope, continue the unprecedented economic performance seen in the past decade.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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What about the tax cuts?

Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Is that a "yes"?

John O'Donoghue (Kerry South, Ceann Comhairle)
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I call Deputy Rabbitte and in doing so thank Deputy Kenny and the Tánaiste for their co-operation in keeping to the time allocated.

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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I ask the Tánaiste about the commitment in the programme for Government to introduce legislation, in line with the recommendations of the all-party Oireachtas committee on the Constitution, on property rights. In The Irish Times today he will see a story that explains that the State has paid €81 million for school sites since 2002 and that there have been a number of outrageous attempts to get the State to buy back a site for a school at rezoned values. The Tánaiste's colleagues in government, the Green Party Ministers, in particular the Minister of State, Deputy Sargent, have made a point of this commitment to bring forward legislation to implement the all-party committee recommendations on the acquisition of land. This is a major issue in respect of housing because such measures as were in place were changed by the Government at the request of developers, the result being that the number of social and affordable units has been much lower than it might otherwise have been. Essentially, it provides for the compulsory acquisition of land at existing value plus 25%. The all-party committee concluded, as the Tánaiste is aware, that there was no constitutional impediment, if the exigencies of the common good so required, to acquiring land for the provision of housing, schools and so on using such a formula. Deputy Sargent looks like he approves of my reading the programme for Government. I hope it helps him in getting the matter brought quickly before the House.

John O'Donoghue (Kerry South, Ceann Comhairle)
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Forgive me for interrupting, Deputy Rabbitte, but your time has expired.

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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I thank you, Sir. I just ask the Tánaiste when it will be brought forward.

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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Obviously, it is the intention of the Government to honour all of our commitments in the programme for Government, as negotiated, over the period of office of the Government. I cannot indicate to Deputy Rabbitte at this remove, not having the line responsibility, as to when and how we can proceed with the continuing examination of that issue and come forward with a means by which we can deal with this question of an integrated planning framework, particularly in areas that have seen very rapid development, to ensure there are amenities and infrastructure in place commensurate with the residential and other development that has taken place in some of these areas. It is the intention of the Government that the Minister with the line responsibility will in due course come to Government with proposals on the way those issues can be dealt with.

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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I hope the Tánaiste will forgive me for saying that there is nothing at all in that answer. I observed your time strictures, Sir, because I merely wanted to know when that legislation would be brought before the House.

There have been grossly scandalous and outrageous excessive profit taking in the housing market, as the Tánaiste will be aware. It has been obscene for a dozen years. The result is that it takes approximately 11 times an annual salary to purchase a house. It is beyond the reach of most people on reasonable incomes. Some 50% of the cost is due to the acquisition of the site.

The Government has this proposition in its programme for Government. The Tánaiste was one of the negotiators. He is speaking like a man who is not all that familiar with it. Does this mean that he is lukewarm? I am not trying to frighten the horses in the Galway tent, seeing that we are coming up to that time of the year, but as Tánaiste and as acting head of Government this morning, he should be able to tell the House when he intends to bring forward these proposals. What is the shape of them? Does Deputy Sargent continue to retain the strong conviction about this issue that he held when on this side of the House? Will we make any attempt to end the rip-off that has been going on in this area and when are we likely to see the shape of the proposals?

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I think it is reasonable for me to state, as I have, that it is our intention to proceed with the implementation of the programme for Government during the tenure of office of this Administration, that the priorities outlined there are ones with which line Ministers will now proceed having taken up office within the past few weeks, and that, as Deputy Rabbitte will be aware, it will be the responsibility of the line Minister concerned to come to Government for consideration of proposals to implement any commitments in the programme for Government.

On housing policy generally, it is our intention — and we have provided in the national development plan sufficient funding — to meet in full the commitments in the NESC report relating to social and affordable housing. I am glad that output in this area is considerably higher than it was a decade ago and that the Central Bank sees a move to an easing of output to approximately 60,000 to 65,000 units per year as being the one that will best ensure supply meeting continuing demand in the future. The thrust of what we must accomplish in the coming months and years is to achieve a soft landing in that respect.

John O'Donoghue (Kerry South, Ceann Comhairle)
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That completes Leaders' Questions. I thank Deputies Kenny and Rabbitte and the Tánaiste for their co-operation in the implementation of the Standing Order.