Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Our mid-term fiscal forecasts have been endorsed by the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council as being inside the range of what it judges to be permissible and realistic. The ESRI is an independent body which offers its views on how the Department, the Government and the economy are performing and I respect them. The Irish Fiscal Advisory Council assesses whether our fiscal forecasts are inside a reasonable range of accuracy and whether they reflect the risks. It has endorsed our mid-term forecasts. It has acknowledged that the figures are inside parameters it believes are reasonable. We have assumed that the impact of Brexit, even before it happens, will eliminate approximately 0.5% of the projected growth of the economy and recognised this in the forecasts made.

In respect of the impact on fiscal resources, the ESRI came up with a figure of €600 million over three years. In those three years we will spend approximately €180 billion and collect approximately the same amount in taxes. While that is a risk we need to manage, it is one calculated across three years.

I do not have a Brexit and a non-Brexit part of my day. It has changed all the work we do in respect of the economy and permeates all discussions I have with my officials on economic matters.