Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)

That is a fair point. I must break spending into two different strands. The risk could be there for capital investment. We need to ensure that our capital investment plans get the balance right between ambition and affordability. How to get that balance right is on our minds.

On current spending, I see it as more of a risk but the risk is different. We could end up with rates of current spending growth that become embedded at a high level. That would create a public finance risk. If we must, we can manage capital spending down more easily than current spending. That is how I see the situation. We have outperformed in some cases but that is the risk we now have. The reason we outperformed is that some particular sectors within our economy did an awful lot better than they or we expected. Those are now the parts of our economy that are in the middle of the global trade risk. If we look at the performance of life science and technology, they are big contributors to our improved tax outturn and the improved position in our public finances. Those are the very sectors, however, that are now at the heart of the trade difficulty we have. That which was a strength could become a public finance weakness.