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

We accept there is a crisis relating to many of the needs of our citizens and that is why we are going to be bringing out a national development plan that will have the highest level of capital expenditure in the recent history of our State. The Deputy is making the point, and I accept it, that rising costs with regard to energy are making things even more difficult, after we have already experienced a period of great difficulty. With that in mind, I would have thought the Deputy could see the value in measures that try to preserve the take-home pay of our workers. We will have that debate at another point.

I have heard some commentary that not all of the contingency fund may be drawn down next year. I have heard some of the views of IFAC on that point. One of the experiences I have had from using these contingency funds and putting them together is that draw down can at times come from unexpected sources. I have the experience of where we were with the contingency fund last year. We announced two different funds last October. I never thought I would be in a situation where both of them would be used. If they were used, I never thought that either of them would be fully drawn down. However, I found myself in a position whereby the funds were nearly entirely used by the summer. If there is an opportunity that we do not have to allocate so much funding into these contingency funds, we will certainly look at that but it is something about which I am going to be cautious.