Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

-----would involve a spend of approximately €11 billion in modest terms. I welcome the influence of the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council purely for that contribution alone. Is Professor McHale not being a bit severe?

When Professor McHale says the unplanned expenditure at the end of 2015 echoes the last boom, when property-related revenues funded large increases in spending, I am not sure I fully understand it. As I understand it, what happened during the boom was that when stamp duty receipts and transaction taxes on building and property fell away, like melting snow on a ditch, we could not fund the services to which we had committed to provide. In this case, the Revenue Commissioners are not conferring approval on the use of the much used word "volatility" in relation to corporate taxes, although they can, of course, be derailed for any number of reasons. In their opinion, corporate taxes seem consistent, stable and solid for the future, with the exception of a figure of some €300 million. Is it fair for Professor McHale to cause the resonance he has caused with his calculated decision to say this echoes what happened during the boom?