Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

No, but I would not think we were fatalistic or dismal. The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Donohoe, will appear before the committee tomorrow. With a combination of what is available to him, approximately €860 million, and what is already built into the base for demographics and for the Lansdowne Road agreement, there is another €860 million or so. Tomorrow, the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, will outline having the capacity to increase spending on services by approximately €1.7 billion or €1.8 billion. That is a significant chunk of money for one budget over the other. However, because of the decisions we took in designing the programme for Government, the space I have for tax is much more limited. It is not that there is no money, but we have decided - quite deliberately - to use more to repair the services. It is quite significant - €1.7 billion a big chunk of money for extra services.