asked the Taoiseach if he will outline the basis for which the studies on the employment projections in the recent national plan were based; if he will quote references for these projections; whether any such studies had any degree of independent validation; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

The job objectives and opportunities outlined in the Programme for National Recovery were established on the advice of and in consultation with the responsible Government Departments and State agencies.

Would the Taoiseach be good enough to answer the other parts of the question, including for example, if he could name one agency which submitted studies regarding job potential or job projections along the lines of the national plan? Secondly, have they any degree of independent validation? Lastly, would the Taoiseach, for example, agree that the strategic studies by some of the employment agencies would fall very far short of the elaborate and somewhat farfetched targets of the plan? I want to know where these came from. I do not dispute that the Government were in consultation with the agencies.

I think the Deputy has made his point.

I just want to know if the Taoiseach agrees with this.

As I said in my reply, the objectives were established on the advice of and in consultation with all the different Government Departments and agencies concerned. I have already indicated that these are targets, objectives and that we shall do everything in our power to achieve them. I hope that we shall have better success in achieving these targets than was associated with the document of the party to which the Deputy previously belonged, namely, Building on Reality.

I am resisting the temptation to be drawn to a side.

The Deputy is already drawn to a side.

I want to ask specifically if the strategic studies of the IDA bear out the figures which appear in the national plan.

Yes, they do.

Is that a confirmation?

The figures are put forward in full agreement and in consultation with the IDA, as far as they are concerned. I think that I have already pointed out that the IDA have been achieving something in the region of 1,500 to 1,700 new jobs. What we are asking in the period immediately ahead is not all that much of a radical advance on that figure.

Are the figures gross?

Is the Deputy building on reality now?

Perhaps the Taoiseach might start building on reality by answering this question. Can he say whether the figures are gross or nett, whether, for instance, 1,000 new jobs in toolmaking mean that the Taoiseach is talking about 1,000 extra jobs there or simply 1,000 jobs that will be created in order to replace perhaps a loss of 1,500, which would be a nett reduction?

The figures are nett of job losses. They are targets for job creation.

Is the Taoiseach saying that in each of the sectors mentioned there actually will be a total increase in the number of jobs after account is taken of job losses of the figure mentioned?

This has all been published and the Deputy might have taken the trouble to read it. What the programme envisages is the creation of this number of new jobs. It does not take into account job losses.

So we can actually have job reduction.