John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Coffey and his team. For people who might be interested in this and following it, and for people who read committee and Dáil debates, it is worth recapping why the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council was established. It was to assist the Government in avoiding the mistakes of the past by providing a constant stream of advice. Most people would accept such advice was sadly lacking in the past. At the beginning of the crash, the august bodies that provided advice to the Government, with the very odd exception in the case of individuals, advised we were heading for a soft landing. It is interesting to hear Mr. Tutty state we are back where we were or in similar terrain. We are back to where we have been in the past. This is in spite of the establishment of the Committee on Budgetary Oversight and the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council. The commentary to the committee is consistent with the warnings IFAC has given over the past three years and particularly over the past two years.

Of particular interest to me in the context of budget 2020 is that the Government is stating the overall budget package is €2.8 billion. As the witnesses have rightly pointed out, approximately €600 million of this is discretionary and €2.2 billion of it is already accounted for. The Minister has hinted this will be a no-deal Brexit budget making contingencies for the worst-case scenario. This sounds prudent to me. He has hinted at the inclusion of Brexit supports in the overall budgetary package. I have read the council's report and I seek clarification on it. Should the package of Brexit supports we expect to be announced come out of the €2.8 billion and not be additional to it? The witnesses are hinting that if it is additional, it must be offset by savings in other areas. Is this correct?