Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I will speak just for a moment. It would be helpful at the outset of this debate on the Finance Bill, which enacts the budget, if the Minister could briefly comment on the current economic backdrop. There seems to be a lot of uncertainty at the moment. There is the most recent report from his Department and the ESRI on the impact of Brexit, whether it be a hard or soft Brexit; the public sector pay issue, which is evolving very quickly; the election overnight of Donald Trump in the United States; the issue of the public finances generally; and the unusual warning by the Department of Finance which accompanied the October Exchequer returns that the November-December figures will need to be quite strong. It seems to me there is a lot of uncertainty at the moment. Before we embark on enacting this Bill to give effect to the budget, I ask that the Minister give us his sense of the current position of the Irish economy. It is completely at the discretion of the Chairman but it would be very important.