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

The projections are lower than what the figures will be. The figure of 1.5% the Deputy cited takes account of demographics, pre-existing commitments and so on. There is a view that it should be assumed that budgetary decisions that normally happen will continue into the future. I take a different view. If that is the path we go down, we will get to a point where a Minister for Finance in the future will be making decisions on tiny parts of his or her budget. It is the preserve of Ministers who will come after me - and will hopefully be my preserve in the future - to be able to decide how they allocate a degree of funding at budget time. Expenditure growth in the future will be higher than the figures to which the Deputy is referring but that will be the result of budget day decisions that, hopefully, the Dáil will pass.