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

Our national debt will have increased by €38 billion across a two-year period precisely because of my support for putting in place large programmes of Government spending that are funded by borrowing. The SPU anticipates a deficit of just under 5% this year, a similar figure to last year. The policy position for next year predicts a deficit of just under 3% before we make choices about how we can support our economy. What the SPU outlines is that in a scenario where employment is falling, our deficit should also fall. That is important because a falling deficit, as Ireland demonstrated before the pandemic hit, is one of the ways the country is able to give confidence to those from whom we are borrowing about our ability to repay debt in the future, particularly when the support the ECB is providing at the moment begins to change. My actions and the data in the SPU do not prioritise a balanced budget above everything else. In fact, in the two budgetary years we have been dealing with this pandemic, we will see an increase in our national debt of €38 billion and our supports are among the largest and most effective in Europe.