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

I thank the Deputy. Given the warning that he has issued to me about not speaking for too long, I will try to be quick.

In response to the Deputy's first question, I just made the same point in different words. I apologise for two speeches being issued to the committee. I will ensure the same does not happen on budget day. On the Deputy's second point about the use of HAP and housing-related payments, I would love to be in a position in the future where we do not have to make as much use of those payments as we are currently. However, while we are in a situation where we are building more public and social housing and rebuilding our social housing stock, I believe those payments play a role in supporting those who need long-term secure rental accommodation while more permanent plans and homes are being made available to them.

Third, on the Deputy's point about capital expenditure, sometimes the line is more blurred than economic textbooks might indicate but, from a policy point of view, there still has to be a segmentation. There is a world of difference between making a decision, for example, to hire 1,000 more teachers in any given year and committing to building a new public capital project that has a finite end point, at the end of which you can make the decision as to whether you want to maintain the spending or not with few of the difficulties that are sometimes associated with the management of current spending.

On the Deputy's final point on the review of tax expenditures, as a matter of policy we review all tax expenditures every three years.