Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will be seeking a good deal of information today which I would not expect the Minister to have before him now. If we are to have a real input into this process I hope we could go through it today. We will seek further information and when that information is available, the Minister could come back and listen to our considered input.

We can debate the size of the cut but I accept there will be cuts. It does not take the IMF to tell me that one cannot forever spend more on voted expenditure than one is taking in tax. I do not need any outsider to tell me that. The only people who maintain that one can keep spending more on current expenditure than is being collected in revenue are those living in cloud cuckoo land. The IMF is not dictating this. It is common sense that one cannot live beyond one's means. We were engaged in cuts long before the IMF was here and we were trying to explain to the Opposition at the time that one cannot spend more than one is earning. Even if the bank debt was wiped away tomorrow, in total we are still spending more than we are earning. We need to decide how those cuts will be implemented and where. For the committee to have a meaningful input we need a good deal more information that we have received to date and I am seeking that information. I hope the Minister will come back within one or two weeks to go through it again with the information on which we need to give a considered opinion.