Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will deal with each of the Deputy's questions in turn. The short answer to his technical question is that, yes, capital expenditure is treated in a different way to current expenditure and smoothed over a four-year period. The figures outlined by the Deputy are approximately correct. That is the way it works and €1 of expenditure would have a smaller effect on how much of the fiscal space it absorbs.

The Deputy put different points in respect of pay and choices made. We are still in the very early stages of the current wage agreement negotiated with the public service. It is a three-year agreement and there are still active issues that we are managing in the context of working to get unions and other groups into it. The vast majority of unions and public civil servants have voted to be part of the agreement. Is it funded across the next number of years? The Deputy was correct earlier and the answer is "Yes". The figures quoted as part of the fiscal space relate, of course, to the net fiscal space. Growth fiscal space across the coming years includes the provision for paying for the Lansdowne Road agreement, as it does for commitments relating to the public capital programme. In the context of the aftermath of our current wage agreement - the Lansdowne Road agreement - and how we will deal with it, there will be a replacement to it. Such an agreement will come into play when the current one concludes. If I indicated the provision, I would prejudge the kind of negotiations that I and this Government will have with stakeholders in the area.