Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

That is not the question, and my time is limited. I will move on. I am not talking about the summer economic statement. I acknowledge there were moving parts. Is this the way the Minister is going to continue in terms of increasing the budget, even with volatility? The scope of the package of the budget that the Minister relayed to the Committee on Budgetary Oversight five days before the budget was increased by one third. That is not on. It is not the relationship we should have with the Executive. The Minister knew or had a sense of where the parameters would be. The Minister might not have known the final figure but decided to keep it from us. It was okay because we learned about it in the Sunday newspapers, as I said to the Minister at the committee. I said the Committee on Budgetary Oversight will gain more from reading the Sunday newspapers than from questioning the Minister five days before the budget.

I have a question for the Minister for Finance. The Minister for Finance said the expectation - or words to that effect - was that the summer economic statement would be published. I hope the Minister will clarify that there will be a summer economic statement and there are no "buts". The Irish Fiscal Advisory Council criticised the Government and the Department for not doing that last year.

I will move on to the stability programme update and the spring statement. Is it the intention that the statement will be published at the end of April? Will there be medium-term projections? In the budget documentation last year the Minister said it would contain medium-term projections to set a pathway towards moving the national finances back to a balanced position once the public health situation allows. Can the Minister explain how far out we are going to look? Is it a five-year projection? Is that forthcoming in April?

Will the Minister respond to the issue of the fiscal rules and the Stability and Growth Pact? Does the Minister share my view - more and more people across Europe are saying it - that the pact is now outdated? I believe that, with the levels of indebtedness chasing the 60% targets, it is not appropriate at this point and we need to look at these rules all over again.

Does the Minister, especially in his role as president of the Eurogroup, support the extension of the general escape clause and the work of rewriting the fiscal architecture of the European Union? The purpose is to replace what I would argue is an obsession with debts and deficits with targets such as full employment and public investment.