Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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I welcome both Ministers to the committee. In relation to the spending rule, on 15 June, the Minister for Finance stated the following in response to a parliamentary question:

The spending rule is calibrated on the basis of ‘net’ spending i.e. spending net of discretionary taxation measures. Accordingly, the expenditure ceiling would be different – higher or lower – if the Government introduced discretionary tax changes.

Therefore, core expenditure is to go up by 6.1% but there is also the net taxation of €1.1 billion. Based on what the Minister said in the DáiI, will the spending rule be an increase of 7.5%? Is that correct?