Mr. Brendan Gleeson:

That is not a question for this Department. I do not know is the short answer. The longer answer is that the MFF proposals are based on a 10% increase in the overall budget, which requires the proportion of GNI to increase to 1.11%. The member states which do not agree with this have said they do not want to give any more than 1% of GNI. GNI will increase, hopefully, over the next several years and, therefore, even if one does not increase the GNI contribution, the overall contribution to the budget will increase.

The other factor is what else this money will be spent on.

Another question is how much money will be provided for defence, migration and other political imperatives. That is not much of an answer for the Deputy, but it is not a simple question. To be honest, it is not a question for me but one for the Department of Finance.