Colm Brophy (Dublin South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will draw that to a conclusion. The question has been asked by Deputy Cullinane as well as by Deputy Doherty.

Before I conclude the meeting, I would like to comment myself. To be honest, I am somewhat mystified by the contributions of some of my colleagues. I warmly welcome what the Minister has announced. As the Committee on Budgetary Oversight, one of the things we cannot detach ourselves from is the potential impact of unknown quantities being spent throughout the year on the budget. I warmly welcome the proposal the Minister has brought forward. I believe it is a proposal of common sense. It brings forward basic clarity and gives a defined figure for a cost for the year. It takes out that uncertain risk. I have no doubt that there are hundreds of thousands of public sector workers throughout the country who are very pleased with this announcement today. From a budgetary perspective, being able to put a figure on this at this point in the year and effectively to put a cap on it is something that we should welcome. I commend the Minister on his work. If we look back to last December, and this is a reference the Minister himself made, I do not think anybody here would have believed that we would have reached this type of agreement and understanding. I am tremendously pleased that we are now facing into 2017 with the type of certainty that allows all the planning for the other aspects of the budgetary outturn during the year to be looked at in the knowledge of what that figure is. That is my contribution on the matter.

I thank the Minister and his officials for attending the committee today. We appreciate his time and the answers he has given to all our questions.