Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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Mr. Coffey spoke about the advice of the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council being taken. The council has beaten the drum about medium-term projections since I can remember its reports coming out but there is stronger language in this instance. It states that the plans are not credible and it has highlighted all the different figures which it thinks are dubious. Nevertheless, it is engaging with the Department of Finance, as well as this committee. If the figures are based on an expenditure increase of 1.2%, taking into account inflation and demographics etc, they are not credible as we all know this is not going to occur. Why, then, is the Department ignoring the council's advice? Why are we still getting projections for medium-term budgets that are the bare minimum? Everybody knows it is not going to be the case. Nobody believes social welfare is not going to increase for five years, or that there will not be an extra penny put into health above demographics and inflation, so why is the Department not responding?