Ms Jenny Connors:

The summer economic statement set out a two-pronged approach to the fiscal strategy for budget 2023. We have increased the growth in public expenditure for 2023 above the medium-term expenditure framework because that was based on an expectation of 2% inflation, and inflation is clearly above that. That was one element that has facilitated an increase in the budgetary package to €5.8 billion on the expenditure side for budget 2023, through which €1 billion in permanent social protection measures were rolled out. We also have tried to be as flexible as possible on the other side with the once-off measures for cost of living but also, on the non-core side, we are trying to respond to external challenges, bearing in mind the experience from Covid, where we brought in very substantial supports and we tried to unwind those over time. This is all working towards ensuring we can have a sustainable ongoing framework and funding of public services.