Mr. Fergal O'Brien:

Yes. We are not saying it should all be on the expenditure side. Some €2.1 billion of the adjustment should involve expenditure. We should stick to the plan on the expenditure side. In last year's budget, the level of adjustment on the taxation side exceeded the adjustment committed to in the plan by €300 million. We see this as an opportunity to redress an imbalance in last year's budget. Crucially, if the Minister announces no new taxes on budget day, that will provide a fillip and unleash confidence in the economy. I do not mean in any way to underplay the difficult choices that will be made with regard to expenditure reductions. I am setting out what we think would be the best approach from an economic perspective, in terms of jobs, consumer confidence and business confidence. That is our view.

The crucial issue of capital gains tax is being raised by companies of all size in all sectors. It strikes me that Ireland is out of line with other countries in two ways. First, we do not distinguish between speculative gain and enterprise return. That is a significant issue. Second, we are really losing out because we are not giving people an incentive to reinvest. There is a missed opportunity here. The proceeds of business sales are being lost out of the State and out of the economy because there is no incentive for people to reinvest in other start-ups or in seed or whatever it is going to be. I will leave it there for the moment.