Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is a judgement and we have to assess the needs of our economy for next year. We are not saying that the deficit has to come in at 5% or below next year, no matter what. That is not the position of the Government. The position is that on a no-policy-change basis, the forecast of deficit for 2021 would be of the order of 5%. That is before we make any new decisions and before we decide on the quantum and scope of the recovery fund, for example, and how we apply that over the course of next year. We are not wedded to a particular deficit outturn figure for next year.

The more important consideration is the level of support the economy needs. To be honest, I do not think we fell back this year in providing very significant support across the economy. The intention is to provide extensive support again next year. We want to see a situation, however, where the deficit at least starts to move in the right direction. There is a degree of uncertainty about the outturn for this year. It will depend on the tax receipts in the final quarter. The potential impact of any further restrictions could also be significant. There is a lot of uncertainty. Next year we would like to see the deficit going in the right direction. We are not wedded to a particular figure that we have to meet come what may. The overall priorities are to support the economy and to protect services.