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

I welcome the Minister and his official. I know the Minister has an agreement with Fianna Fáil concerning the October budget. On the issue of Brexit, when does he expect to know what we will be facing from 2019 onwards? There are 11 months until 29 March 2019. How does that influence the Minister?

Second, looking through the Minister's risk and sustainability analysis of the report, I see that there is a reference to bond market conditions. In regard to the €206 billion debt the Minister mentioned, what progress has been made in 2018 and 2019 in refinancing through the NTMA, which we have discussed before a few times? I know the agency took a few actions early this year. What impact has that had on the national debt? The Minister said it is essential that we start to reduce this burden. What exactly will that mean in 2018 and 2019?

I will refer briefly to non-tax revenue. There is a reference here to the Central Bank, the floating rate notes and revenues in that area. What might happen to our bank shares is referred to in the risk analysis. Does the Minister expect any other positive developments on the non-tax revenue side?

Colleagues made several references to that extraordinary statistic about Apple. I recently bought a new iPad. This is having such a profound impact on our economy that it accounts for a quarter of 2017 growth. This raises the issue of corporation tax. The Minister does not highlight a major risk in this area, in spite of the common consolidated corporate tax base, CCCTB, and the European plans in this regard.