Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I accept that. I will move on to the next major challenge for the Minister, which will be the preparation of the budget for 2014. I realise he will not deal with that today, but my question is about the framework within which the budget will be prepared. Under the assumptions that have been made, if the Minister goes ahead with the €5.1 billion adjustment over the next two years, we will reach a deficit of 2.2% by the end of 2015. That is considerably better than the limit of 3%. Under the ECOFIN recommendations the deficit limit next year was to be 5.1%, but the Minister is now projecting that it will be 4.3%. Must the Minister achieve the figure of 5.1% or is he stuck with the nominal adjustment that is specified in the MOU of €3.1 billion for next year?