Feargal Quinn (Independent)

I welcome the Minister of State and was interested to listen to his contribution. We have a crisis on our hands. Our immediate priority is to stabilise the deficit at this year's level which is already one of the highest in Europe. However, this stabilisation which will require an adjustment of €4 billion is not nearly enough. We should be cutting €8 billion.

I have a problem with the urgency with which the issue is being addressed. Last week Fitch Ratings downgraded Ireland's credit rating. It also downgraded the rating for Spain which had a similar problem and cut its level of public expenditure by 12% to 15%. The Danish deficit figure is seven points better than ours and people there have accepted 20% cuts. The IMF forced Latvia, Hungary and Estonia to cut by as much as 30%. What would happen if this was a business rather than a government?