Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the witnesses for their extensive presentations and responses. We as a committee greatly respect their opinions, views and comments on the budget. We are obliged, as a committee, after having received the budget, to analyse and scrutinise different aspects of it. To fill the witnesses in on where we are with our preparations to do that in the coming weeks, we will have specific meetings to deal with the existing level of service costs, the issue of demographics and its impact on core spending annually. We will be talking to the Department of Finance, the ESRI and the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council about that. We will also speak to the Department of Finance to discuss tax expenditure specifically laid out in the budget, particularly regarding landlords and mortgage reliefs, to investigate those further, analyse them and to see the impact we hope and expect that they can have, based on the commitments that have been made. We will also speak to the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform about Supplementary Estimates and the specific overruns associated with this budget and to analyse the ongoing issues with the Department of Health. We will investigate the quantifying of recurring expenditure which is not quantified until late in the day. We will also ask the Government to expand on its commitments regarding the Ireland fund and the climate and nature fund.

Another issue I have picked up on in recent days is corporate receipts, the corporate tax rate and the global tax rate being set at 15%, and the failure to date of the US to sign up to that agreement. Some would say, as has been reported recently, that it is because the OECD only supplied the legal text in recent weeks. Others would say that in the US Senate debates about the issue, it did not meet with universal approval. That is slightly worrying. Because of that and the commitments we are making in the Finance Bill regarding the European agreements that are in place, it might not be great for Europe with the US, China and other blocs not adhering to the agreements that we hoped would be honoured. Because of that, I will seek the committee's approval to speak to the Ministers for Finance, and Enterprise, Trade and Employment, and also the IDA, to get their impressions, understandings, appreciations and maybe worries about that too. As has been alluded to, while our economy is going reasonably well against the backdrop of significant challenges in recent years, whether regarding Brexit, Covid, or the cost of living, we have responded and dealt with those issues amazingly well as a State and as a people, but the background is the substantial returns we have had from that sector.

Between the economic statement earlier in the year and the budget delivery, the 6.1% net spend and the breakdown of €1.1 billion in taxation and €5.3 billion in core expenditure remained constant. The only variation was that the corporate tax receipts began to level. There was a global downturn and geopolitical issues which impact on that too. It is a worrying issue in the background that we need to not lose sight of and to hold those who made commitments to account to honour those commitments and not leave us high and dry.

I thank the witnesses for their contributions, presentations, perspectives, impressions and asks. They were made in good faith. We appreciate and understand that. We do not want to treat them with any political bias at all. We are members of all parties and none and we have a responsibility and duty to other Members of the Dáil to make sure that we analyse and critique the budget in a way which can only improve its presentation in the future.