Professor Michael McMahon:

I will give two quick comments and then the Deputy can use the rest of his time. We have had this discussion before. We used national rules because we also have European rules and we need to delineate. We would welcome this rule or another domestic rule to be put into legislation, so we would support the Deputy in what he was pushing for. The answer to his question is "Yes". If taxes were reduced, then the amount of room left, according to the 5%-net rule, would give less space for extra spending. The way most people envisage this operating is the reverse. If taxes were increased and revenue would therefore be higher, there would be more space in which to spend.