Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister and his officials. I echo what Deputy Chambers was saying about the budgetary oversight office. We had a commitment in the programme for Government that it would be up and running, yet we are heading into the second of three agreed budgets for the current Administration and the office is still not there. I share the Chairman's frustration.

On the stability programme update, SPU, does table 9 not show on the tax side that the first quarter taxes are a bit soft? I saw a report the other day from the Dublin Port chief executive on the first quarter, showing that numbers of British visitors and their cars are down significantly. They are critical for our tourism industry. Is there some indication on table 9 that Brexit is beginning to bite slightly?

Going on to table A2.3 in the appendix, which is a comparison of vintages of receipts and expenditures for 2017, is there not a very significant deterioration of the underlying balance there, between the budget and this SPU? The Minister has explained about possible estimated reductions in terms of water charges. What are the other statistical reasons for the deviation?