Dara Murphy (Cork North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There is one thing he does not seem to get. When I studied economics in UCC, one of the first things we were taught was that income must equal expenditure. The most misunderstood quote in Europe currently is that Europe is moving away from austerity. This does not mean that countries that have excessive deficits are moving away from having balanced budgets, but perhaps it is about encouraging European countries that have a large surplus, which have been very restrained about how they put money into the economy, to start spending.

On a different issue, it now seems certain we are not to be part of the financial transactions tax that is to be implemented in 11 member states, many of which are in the eurozone. Does the Minister see that as the end of the matter? Is there a potential benefit for Ireland due to the fact that many of our competitors or friends within the eurozone will now have a tax on financial transactions while we will not? With regard to tax unity within Europe and the taxes being discussed, can I take it that these do not concern issues such as corporation tax and that such issues are not on the agenda currently?

There is one other issue I wish to raise, but I will come back to it later if we have time.