Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)

It is nice to see the Senator. I have not seen her since the Seanad and Dáil were formed and I look forward to lots of debates with her in the coming years. The Senator is correct that the medium-term fiscal plan was submitted as a technical document by the Government at the very end of our term. The reason for that was because the Government was very conscious as we concluded that we still had to fulfil our commitments to the Commission and to fiscal rules that had just begun. It was very technical. The assumptions were all based on the assumptions we prepared on the budget. Things did not change between budget day and the submission of the play.

It is fair to say that it is very challenging for us to put together the new medium-term fiscal plan and we are considering how we do it. The reason for this goes back to the question put to me by Deputy Brennan. It is hard enough to know where the rules of trade will be in the second half of this year. To be able to tell the Senator where the global economy and the Irish economy will stand in 2028 or 2029 will be a challenge for us. We will need to produce a medium-term fiscal plan. We are considering the best way of doing it. Government thinking is still that we will do it by the summer but we are in a very fast-moving environment. For me, the key thing is that we do one, it happens early in the Government's term and we set the parameters for budget 2026 to give Government enough time to plan for it.