Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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Yes. The Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, IFAC, has made it clear that when we look at the allocations set out in the national development plan, we can see that two things have happened. We are spending less. Capital spending has been revised downwards, while inflation has increased. We are going in the wrong direction in capital spending. I know this is increasing nominally but we are not meeting our targets. We are getting less bang for our buck and we are spending less than was planned. This is crazy given the pressures we have in housing, etc. The IFAC has pointed out that what was planned to have been done by 2025 will have been missed by 24% in terms of capital spending. This causes alarm bells to ring. Spending approximately €250 million next year, or €2.25 billion to 2026, does not cut it. What rate of construction inflation has been factored in? What will this do to the real level of capital expenditure in 2023 and 2024?

Moving on to the tax base, and this question is for the Minister, Deputy Michael McGrath, that underpins the summer economic statement, does this include the application of pillar two of the OECD tax agreement, which will see us having an effective corporate tax rate of 15% and which will have a benefit for us? Does it include the increases in the carbon tax earmarked for next year? Does it include the non-indexation of income tax rates and bands? How are the windfall tax and the solidarity contribution in the energy sector factored into the taxation context? There is a bit of detail involved in these aspects but I ask the Minister to answer as best he can.