Professor Michael McMahon:

We welcome that it has been included out to 2027 in a more reasonable way, subject to the fact that, as Deputy Doherty said, we do not know how long this will last or how much it will cost. This is the nature of budgeting. Imagine if Covid disappeared more quickly than we had expected. If it is included in core spending, it is budgeted for appropriately, and if it goes away, it provides more space for the Government to spend that money on other things. The problem we end up having is these mistakes go in one direction. Spending is not included for years and years and then suddenly we realise it is ongoing and not disappearing. The prudent approach is to put more into core spending and when the items disappear it creates revenue that can be spent on other things and other demands of the day.