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

We were in an atmosphere, as I am sure the Deputy will know, of grappling with the global effects of a pandemic. That meant that we had to put in place extraordinary measures at different points to help us protect our economic and society. The core spending plans that we announced, particularly in last year's budget, were consistent with the expenditure benchmark that the Government had announced.