Mr. Brendan O'Connor:

The measures that have been introduced coincide with the economic projections that we produce. If one goes back to the time of the budget with the approximately €1.1 billion of measures that were introduced based on a certain economic scenario at the time, we have had an opportunity to update our economic projections which I believe, at this point, capture most of the energy price increases. I will not speak to the future if there is an escalation in the war to suck in third countries or no gas supplied to the EU whatsoever, but they were most recently introduced on the basis of what we think the next six months will look like. That is a reasonable way to put it.

Currently, to paraphrase something that was said by somebody else in the past, risks are getting riskier. There was a time when we used to do forecasts and we would have a lovely little fan chart around them based on what the past looked like, how wrong we were in the past and here is our point estimate but we think we are going to be within this. That thing is stretched. One could have energy prices bouncing from $106, or whatever it is today for oil prices, back up to $150. We model that, and that is published. The implications for growth and the budget balance are in the document and we have written about it. It could be gas prices that used to be 50 pence per therm permanently for a decade hitting £5 sterling. We have had such volatility. However, on the basis of what has happened since the budget and on the basis of market prices for what it is going to cost to buy gas, oil and all these things for the next year, it appears as if a lot of that stuff is now priced in. We have a good handle on where we are with energy costs.