Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)

Forget about budget 2026, because, obviously, we will not be able to hold the Government to account as to whether it budgeted prudently or not. I would bet my house on the Government repeating the same trends. That is obvious. The health budget is an example. When you cut through the spin and bull, there is a serious issue with what the Government has done in terms of health. Let us just park that, because 2026 is in the future. We will deal with that this time next year.

A medium-term expenditure framework was published. It was developed by the Minister and his Department over the summer. The framework looks at the fact that the Government broke its own rule every year it has been in office and is about trying to learn the lessons from that. Now the Minister comes along at the end of the year as part of a collective looking for €2 billion. I remember times when the total budget was €2 billion. Surely, those in government have learned no lessons whatsoever.