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

I welcome Professor McHale and his colleagues. I thank him for his opening statement. We have already looked at the report. To continue on from where the Acting Chairman left off on the €2 billion adjustment – Professor McHale made his views on it very clear – does he think that if the Government goes with its stated intent of making an adjustment of less than €2 billion, but we do not know how much less, there is a significant risk that we could not achieve a deficit of less than 3% by the end of next year? How would Professor McHale characterise the risk if the Government were to make an adjustment of €1 billion or €1.5 billion, for example? What would be the consequences of missing the target in that regard?