Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Tuesday, 30 April 2013
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform
Stability Programme Update: Discussion with Minister for Finance
6:35 pm
Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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On the information Deputy Dara Murphy is seeking, the answer is complicated. If the Deputy looks at page 21 of the document, he will see the bar graphs and if he looks at the footnotes, they explain them. Effectively, our position was so good this year because once-off events contributed largely to our getting from the target of 8.6% imposed by the troika to 7.6%. These events will not be repeated in 2013. The interest rate issue also comes into play. Whether we will be at the figure of 7.5% this year will depend on whether expenditure will be below profile and taxes above profile. However, it is too early in the year to say. We are within the targets of our overall programme. It is a surprise to see that such little progress is being projected on the deficit figure for 2013. Our position is good this year because of once-off events last year, some on the savings side and some on the expenditure side. There is a full explanation in the document. The heading is 3.3 which deals with the transition from the deficit figure for 2012 to the deficit figure for 2013. I will let the Deputy go through it himself because it is complex.
What was the Deputy's second question?