Darragh O'Brien (Fianna Fail)

I will.

I remind the Members opposite that a senior Minister of the current Government stated not one red cent more would go into the banks until burden sharing was on the agenda. Will the Leader clarify whether the Taoiseach or the Irish delegation raised any matters yesterday relating to burden sharing and writing down of Irish sovereign debt, in particular the banking debt?

My next question relates to another pre-election promise made by Fine Gael which was that there would be no reduction in the number of special needs assistants. Earlier this year, the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Quinn, stated 475 special needs assistant posts would be withheld. This was a unilateral decision and it was not written into any agreement. Of the 475 posts which the Minister held back until later in the year while the needs of pupils with special needs were being assessed, how many have been allocated? I would like a specific answer to this and if I cannot receive one the Minister of the Education and Skills should come before the House to answer the question. The Government promised no cuts to the number of special needs assistants but cuts of approximately 10% have been made. The unilateral decision was then taken to hold back 475 posts and I want to know how many of these have been filled.