Mr. John McCarthy:

Sorry. Yes, the surplus would be for next year. It would be wiped out and between one and two percentage points would be taken off the level of economic activity over the medium term. The Deputy asked where we will go in future. We base our numbers on market expectations for Brent crude, for example.

At the time of the stability programme, futures markets, that is, buying oil for delivery at some stage in the future, were $97 per barrel for this year, about $87 for next year and down to about $81 for 2024 and 2025, a level shift compared with what we have been used to over recent years.