Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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In a clarification on that, I was present with the Tánaiste when he made statements like that. Of course, I have made statements like that myself in the past but what the Tánaiste and I went on to say in the general election campaign, too, is that we would never make choices that would endanger our public finances. My hierarchy has always been, in every budget I have done, first to not do anything that can cause harm to our public finances in the long run. That has always been our priority. That was made clear by the Tánaiste in many debates and by myself. After we have delivered against that priority, our further priorities are what we can do from a spending and taxation point of view. Both the Tánaiste and I reached a view that if we were to bring forward an overall tax package that, as I said, would have been well in excess of €2.5 billion, it would have posed risks. That was the Tánaiste's and my judgment and it is one I stand over and will stand over in this discussion.