Mr. Seamus Coffey:

One thing the fiscal council will highlight is the standstill scenario. That is just the cost of what the Government is doing now. It will cost more in 2026 because there will be increases in costs, such as public sector pay increases and general price increases that increase the cost of public services. That can be factored in. The second reason is demographics. There are more people. Therefore, even just to maintain the level of services we are providing now will cost more. Repeatedly, we have seen over a number of years those standstill costs being underestimated. We can do our assessment of wages, prices and demographics and come up with an estimate of the standstill cost. Typically in recent years, that has exceeded the figure set out in the budget and that lack of a sound and credible starting point is part of why we see the overruns going through the following year. Some, as the Deputy said, are predictable.