Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

In the context of the framework for the forthcoming budget and changes to the new national fiscal framework, now that we have entered the preventative arm of the pact, one of the key rules is expenditure benchmark, which will allow expenditure to grow only with reference to potential GDP within the context of the medium-term economic strategy. That was based on a ten-year rolling figure up to now. The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Howlin, confirmed that the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, got that changed to three years. When, where and how did that change? On what date or at what meeting did that happen? What impact can this have on expenditure in the forthcoming budget and in the years ahead?

I refer to a statement that the revision of the expenditure benchmark means that the amount of fiscal space was estimated at €1.33 billion in April 2015. A subsequent announcement by the Minister for Finance at the national economic dialogue suggested that this may increase to €1.5 billion at budget time in October. Were that and the spring economic statement based on the ten-year or three-year expenditure period? Could the witnesses give us an indication in monetary terms rather than percentage terms of the additional financial space available as a result?