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

Deputy Boyd Barrett made a point on additional expenditure. It is not that I am for any reason against additional expenditure. I have overseen expenditure move ahead over the past two years as Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. My key point is that if we have expenditure that goes beyond a certain level, then we must have additional taxation plans to be able to pay for it. Of course, if that is paid for out of additional taxation within the economy, that intervention should be neutral. This is because what we are getting in additional expenditure we are paying for through higher taxation.

Deputy Boyd Barrett asked about the mix between current and capital spending at the moment in our involvement in the housing market. Over time, I want to see our current expenditure in these programmes go down as people go into public housing that is provided by the State. I want to see that change for many of the reasons that Deputy Boyd Barrett has outlined. However, if we did not make available current levels of expenditure for HAP or RAS payments, then our housing difficulties would be even more acute. In those circumstances I imagine the Deputy would be calling for me to bring in such programmes.