Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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The mood of the people ranges from deeply concerned to terrified in terms of the economic situation the country now faces. They recognise that a significant element of this is because of poor Government, bad judgment and obscene wastage of their money. This morning we heard from the European Commission that most of the sacrifices made by the people have now been frittered away in terms of payment for the banks. The Fine Gael Party is not tied to any particular group or sector. Its only interest is in the people and country of Ireland. Obviously, others will the same.

Yesterday, I received a letter from the leader of the Green Party, a minority party in government, requesting Fine Gael's participation in a forum seeking consensus on the approach to be taken to deal with the economic situation we face. The Fine Gael Party has for more than a year accepted the need for a reduction to 3% in debt ratio by 2014 and has stated that this should be front-loaded. We agree with the production of a four year fiscal plan in this regard. We believe that is constructive. The Labour Party holds the same view in terms of the main targets and objectives in this regard.

The leader of the Green Party has put forward his view that there should be a consensus on the approach to be taken towards the fiscal and economic situation in which we find ourselves. Was the letter sent by the leader of the Green Party issued on behalf of the Government? Does it have the Taoiseach's imprimatur?

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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The letter was circulated by the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government in his capacity as leader of the Green Party. It is very important, from the point of view of that party and from the point of view of everyone else, to see if there is some way a form of general consensus might be arrived at. As the Deputy stated, there is consensus among the main political parties with regard to reducing the deficit to 3% by 2014. I made the point on the Friday before last that we would seek to facilitate the Opposition parties in respect of their spokespersons receiving briefings and analysis from the Department of Finance in due course. It is hoped that this will be provided soon.

I welcome the fact that Fine Gael and the Labour Party seem to agree that there is a need to achieve the 3% deficit target by 2014. That is helpful. An issue then arises with regard to the four-year plan that is being devised. The Government obviously has a responsibility to bring forward such a plan. No one claims to have a monopoly on wisdom and if people wish to suggest constructive approaches that might be taken or if they wish to offer their views, these would be welcomed. The country faces an extremely challenging period but I am of the view that we will come through this if we deal with the matter in a rational, calm and intelligent way.

I have always stated that the Opposition can take on board the briefings and analysis that will be provided and that we could then examine whether people share similar views on the facts as they stand. The detailed policy response to those facts may differ from party to party. However, it is important that we should all at least be given the facts relating to the nature of the fiscal challenge we face. Those are issues that will emerge in due course as the data is evaluated and as decisions and judgments are reached in respect of it. In that context, it would be helpful if the three main parties - I understand Sinn Féin has a different point of view - could confirm that this is their broad position.

Regardless of the situation relating to the banks, there is an issue to be resolved in respect of the gap that exists between what we spend and the amount of money accruing to the Exchequer. It would not be correct to state that the issue relating to the banks is the source of all our problems but it does contribute to those problems in the context of the increased national debt to which it gives rise. The fact remains that there is an issue on the fiscal front which must be resolved. I look forward to people taking an open and constructive approach in respect of that issue.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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There have been many days on which and many issues in respect of which the House has been divided. Perhaps it is time for a statement of agreement on an issue that affects every person in this country. I am not going to do down any proposal which might have an impact with regard to dealing with the problems we face in economic and fiscal terms. Those problems have a direct impact, in various ways, on the quality of life of many people.

Deputy Noonan is happy to accept the invitation from the Department of Finance. He will discuss with officials from the Department the advice or information they wish to provide when he meets them tomorrow. When meetings of this type took place in the past - particularly as parties approached the possibility of an election being called at some time in the future - the information provided to the Opposition was not subject to any ministerial direction. Will it be the case that the information to be provided to Deputy Noonan and, I presume, Deputy Burton and others, will not be subject to any such direction from the Minister for Finance and that it will constitute the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?

The Taoiseach quite rightly made the point that when the relevant information is received by the Opposition parties, they will be entitled to assess and analyse it and indicate what might be the shape of the budgets they would put forward based on the facts provided. When he stated that the parties could meet when the information is received and assessed, was the Taoiseach indicating that he supports the concept of engaging in a discussion on the possibility of consensus? I want to be constructive but there would be no point in my participating in the process if the Taoiseach does not do so. I am seeking a straight answer in this regard.

We will act constructively in conjunction with the Government. We will also act constructively in the interests of the people and the country. It was for this reason that I stated that we agree with the 3% deficit target, with the realisation of this by 2014, with the fact that there must be front-loading and with the Government's invitation that we should be briefed by the Department of Finance. We will assess the information that will be made available. Thereafter, I wish to be as constructive as possible in the interests of the people. Is it the Taoiseach's view that the leaders of the parties could participate in a series of discussions regarding the possibility of achieving consensus?

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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Any briefings will be provided by designated officials from the Department of Finance. There is no question of directions or anything else being given in respect of the advice that will be provided. The facts of the matter, as they are emerging, can be conveyed. The Deputy stated that Deputy Noonan will be meeting some officials tomorrow in order to discuss the means by which the relevant information can be provided to him. I understand that others visited the Department earlier in the week. The Department is evaluating the position at present and it is obvious that all its work will not be completed by the time the briefings are to be given. However, such briefings will - perhaps later this week or early next week - be provided to spokespersons on that basis.

I wish to return to the Deputy's point on our involvement, as a Government. I made it clear on Friday last - there is a full transcript available in respect of what I said - that if, arising out of the briefings and analysis that will be provided, any proposals emerge from the Opposition which could be subsequently developed upon by means of a meeting at leadership level, I would have no difficulty in this regard. That goes without saying, as far as I am concerned. We all recognise the areas in respect of which we want to work constructively and we all agree that there is a framework - namely, reducing the deficit to 3% by 2014 - within which we are obliged to operate. The provision of briefings and analysis would ensure that everyone would be armed with the same facts that are available to the Government. When those facts have been provided, people will be in a position to make decisions and choices in respect of how they would resolve the problems that exist. It would then be a matter for those concerned, in the context of a debate or whatever, to put forward their views. All of that to which I refer would be helpful.

I want to work constructively with all of those who are minded to bring forward proposals that would result in the best possible plan being devised. One of the issues which must be considered in this context is the need to reduce the deficit to 3%. The Government has not made any decisions on this matter as yet. However, we must consider how we can reach our target while at the same time optimising the prospect of having a growth strategy for the economy and ensuring that the required adjustment will be achieved in the best possible way. Those are issues which continue to be considered in the context of the data that is being analysed. I do not have a specific view on the matter at present. However, the issues to which I refer are those we are requesting be examined in order that we might arrive at the best possible approach. Such an approach must be consistent with retaining as many existing jobs as possible, creating new jobs and providing growth in the economy. It is obvious that it will also be necessary to address various expenditure and taxation issues in order to make the adjustment required by 2014.

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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I wish to pursue the Taoiseach in respect of a number of the responses he provided to Deputy Kenny. The letter which Deputies Kenny and Ó Caoláin and I received from a Minister in the Taoiseach's Government refers to a three-stage process. One of these is agreement on the 3% target, with which the Labour Party concurred when the Government reached agreement on it with the European Commission. The second takes in the briefings being provided for all parties by the Department of Finance. This is something the Labour Party has been seeking since April and I am glad the process has started; Deputy Burton has already had her first briefing in the Department of Finance in these matters and we are happy to engage in that process.

I am a little confused about the third part of the issue. The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Gormley, has said the purpose of these meetings is to seek a political consensus on the budget and the four-year budgetary plan. Is that the Government's intention? My understanding of going into a process of consensus is that all parties must agree and all parties may exercise a veto. Is that the process the Government is entering? There is a suggestion of meetings with party leaders and finance spokespersons but I want to be clear on the Government's proposal.

Will we have meetings to reach a consensus on the budget and the four-year budgetary plan? We have had some experience on the island with consensus-making processes. Is it the case that nothing is agreed until everything is agreed and nothing is agreed until all the parties agree? Is that the process we are entering?

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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To answer the Deputy directly, the position in that regard is as follows. We made the point that on the basis of the briefings and analysis provided by the Department, if we can agree that this is the pitch upon which we are playing and those facts are the same for everybody, I have no objection to a meeting being held to confirm this is the position and to consider if it is possible for us to have talks beyond that which would meet with an outcome approved by everybody. That is fine at one level. I am also aware of the Deputy's stated public positions on these fronts. There have been policy choices from him even as late as yesterday suggesting that there should be no tax change or alteration to welfare etc. There were a number of issues, and it would be very difficult from my perspective to know how to make an adjustment without having all these matters on the table. However, I will not pre-empt the issue.

I stated last Friday that we must take the matter step by step. The stage we are at is the provision to the Opposition of an agreed process - which is under discussion - for the purpose of having analysis and briefings from designated officials in the Department. The purpose of this is to arm all people with the same facts. On that basis, if a meeting were to held to confirm that we are all agreed on that position, it would be fine if anything further could derive from it that would garner agreement from everyone.

I am prepared to take the process in a step-by-step way and I am not tying the Deputy into a process about which he may have reservations or tying myself into a process suggesting that we end up in an arrangement where bits of everyone's proposal would be considered. That would not meet the requirements of the issue. As the Deputy knows, the Government has a responsibility to discharge, which is to bring forward a four-year plan, as other Governments in the European Union are being asked to do.

We are trying to discern the areas upon which we can agree and whether these are at the macro-economic or micro-economic level. It is all the better if they are policies to help us reach the outcome we all want. That remains to be seen, as the Deputy's party will need to see and assess the analysis and briefings before giving its view.

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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That is not what the Minister, Deputy Gormley, has proposed. What the Taoiseach has just outlined now is an entirely different process, whereby we would have a meeting to run a ruler over the information with which we have been provided from the Department of Finance and understand that we all have the same information. That is an information-sharing exercise. I will ignore the Taoiseach's temptation to resort to partisanship but the second part of his reply noted that the Government has a duty to discharge even if we cannot reach agreement.

Séamus Kirk (Louth, Ceann Comhairle)
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Could we have a question?

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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Yes, it is about consensus. The proposal from the Minister, Deputy Gormley, is that there be a process leading to consensus. The Taoiseach is not confirming that but is saying we will have a meeting to share information, with the Government going off to make its decisions. I have not yet heard the Taoiseach say it is the Government's intention to engage in a process with the Opposition parties which is aimed at reaching a consensus on the budget. That process leading to consensus involves committing to reach agreement with the other parties, with all-party agreement the result. I have not yet heard that from the head of the Government.

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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What the Deputy heard the head of the Government say was that there first would be a meeting to confirm that we share a common analysis because we would be therefore much more likely to have some prospect of a common conclusion.

Emmet Stagg (Kildare North, Labour)
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That hardly needs agreement.

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I went on to say in my reply that we could assess what further meetings would be helpful if that is the case. I was not committing the Deputy to the process unless there is a basic common understanding of what is required to resolve the problem. I am not getting involved in any partisan comment but I was referring to the Deputy's interview in the Evening Herald, which I presume accurately reflects the Deputy's views. He has not suggested otherwise. There is nothing partisan about it. It would be great if everybody could agree on the four-year framework, including expenditure levels, taxation issues and growth figures.

Shane McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The people should decide.

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I was asked a question on whether we were seeking to achieve consensus.

Séamus Kirk (Louth, Ceann Comhairle)
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Deputy McEntee should refrain from intervening.

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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We are already hearing views different from what the Fine Gael leader spoke about a minute ago.

Shane McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The people want an election.

Frank Feighan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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The Taoiseach has a different view from the Minister, Deputy Gormley.

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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We should leave this as Leaders' Questions for the moment so there might be some semblance of coherence. If the process I outlined could be achieved, it would be excellent. I am taking this on a step-by-step basis and we are making the analysis and briefings available to Opposition parties. If there is agreement on a common analysis with the same facts, further meetings would be helpful to see if we can come to further agreement and I would of course favour that. I will not pre-empt Deputies' briefings and analysis before they decide on how to act. We are open to a constructive approach from all sides if possible.