Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Taoiseach for that.

I turn now to the stability programme update and the upcoming budget. The Taoiseach’s Department is responsible for the implementation of the programme for Government. While the Department of Finance will obviously have responsibility for the budget, for public expenditure and for the 2021 stability programme update, it nonetheless falls within the Taoiseach’s remit to ensure commitments in the programme for Government are delivered. I am sure the Taoiseach is aware that the stability programme update contains a 3.5% increase in expenditure year-on-year over the next number of years. Is he aware that the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council has said that the fiscal projections rely on technical assumptions that do not reflect the Government's priorities and that projected spending increases are very close to what is needed just to cover rising prices, wages and demographics? In plain man's text, there is no money to deliver the commitments that are in the programme for Government under what is published in the stability programme update, not alone to talk about the commitments on major spending items like Sláintecare or the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2021.