Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for Finance and Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform for their time and attention this morning after such a particularly late meeting last night. One area that has not been touched on in our discussions this morning, which is surprising, is deficit reduction, which is a very key and central feature of the statement published last night. We must be very careful about how we go about reducing the deficit. Interestingly, the position as enunciated in the summer economic statement differs greatly from that set out in the stability programme update, SPU, which was published only a few short weeks ago. The SPU pledged a balanced budget by 2025. The SES now sees a budget deficit of 1.5% of GDP in 2025. What has changed since April?