Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The €9 billion is not set in stone because it has to be interrogated and assessed on an ongoing basis. In recent days, I have seen different rolling assessment figures in the Department regarding what will be needed for Covid next year. I am saying that to be up-front with the Deputy. When we brought the memorandum to the Government, €9 billion was the estimate. It remains broadly accurate but I am not wedded to the figure because we do what we need to in respect of Covid. That is the commitment I am giving on that issue.

The recovery fund is additional. It is important that we remain agile and flexible next year. Nobody could have predicted at the beginning of 2020, when Covid was not here, that there would be additional expenditure of €16 billion in the course of the year. Covid is now here and I hope it will only be here for part of next year but its impact is difficult to predict. It depends on the health situation and decisions that have to be made in that respect. We are in extraordinary times. Arriving at a decision on the correct level of support is very challenging and difficult. The work on that is ongoing but we want the support to be of an order that can make a real difference. We realise there will be issues to which we will need to respond over the course of the year. We need to have the resources to do so, and we do not want the resources to be in addition to the projected deficit and so on for 2021.