Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I will start by agreeing that the council's submission is spot on, although there are one or two parts with which I might disagree. The second half of page four and all of page five of IFAC's submission pretty much nails the analytical opportunity. It is the bit that is missing. Deputy Doherty, myself and many other members of the finance committee begged the last Government for that information. We asked the Government to show us what the fiscal space was before policy changes with socio-demographics and inflation included and what it proposed to do. We also asked it to tell us how what it proposed to do, on an item by item basis, would affect the available fiscal space. We could not get any movement on it in five years. The way the council has laid that out on pages four and five is spot on in terms of the information the Oireachtas and the standing committee will need to do their job.

My first question is simple and relates to the SPU. There is a debate as to how much time the committee would get with the draft SPU before it is sent off to the European Commission. The proposal from the Minister is five to ten working days, as I understand it.