Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Sometimes as policy makers we do not have the luxury of waiting for 12 months. I agree 100%. For example, corporation tax is so lumpy that we cannot really comment on it for the first quarter or second quarter. Anyway, income tax should be more stable and predictable. The assumptions used to profile income tax should not be so far off in terms of the type of employment and so on. Therefore, when we see a four-month trend, it begins to become concerning. At least it should be in the sense that we should sit up and take notice and try to figure out what is going on behind the scenes.