Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)

In the table the Minister provided, it is interesting that for four of the past five years, excluding 2023, the outturn was, on average, €7 billion ahead of the forecast. The general trend has been to outperform the estimates. The Minister mentioned that we have a sense of permanent crisis. We have had unusual times, with Covid-19 and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. There is now the caution around the potential for tariffs. The committee will look at tariffs in greater detail and it will be interesting. Tariffs are announced one minute and reduced the next. They are then made temporary and more announcements will follow. My only concern is that if we are too conservative in our forecast, what does it mean for our spending? Considering the challenges we are facing, if we forecast less than we realise, is there a concern that we could depress spending as a result and that could have an economic impact in itself?