Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The point is that all of that €1.5 billion, on which Professor McHale came out on radio the week after and stated that it was beyond what he believed was appropriate, has gone into the expenditure base for this year, along with the other €500 million, and he still believes that is prudent policy. Either the view was incorrect at that time or he should be arguing that we should not be spending as much because the Government spent another €1.5 billion last year, which is now in the expenditure base for budget 2017.