Ms Michelle Murphy:

This is a controversial issue. We included it because the Government will include it in its budget arithmetic. We also included the carry-over of taxation. The expenditure carry over was not available when we were compiling this document. We made a very detailed submission approximately two years ago when water charges were being discussed, in this very room, on the number of litres that should be free to different households. The ESRI paper has not yet been published. We are very unsure of how this charge will work. One could add in the extra €500 million as coming from a minimum effective rate of corporate tax. Government, however, asks everybody to submit proposals in light of the budgetary deficit target it has to meet and of what it will include and exclude. That is why we included the water charges in our costings. We did it also to show that a budget adjustment of €2 billion will not be needed. There could be one of zero, as we have outlined.