Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)

I wish to probe the issue in regard to housing as the cause of the fall in receipts. The Tánaiste predicted during the weekend that approximately 65,000 houses will be built, which represents a drop of almost 30,000 from the peak. Does his Department concur with the analysis that the impact on revenue of such a fall would be €1 billion for every 10,000 houses, or €3 billion? Are we facing a €3 billion shortfall in next year's revenue, compared to this time last year? That shortfall does not even take into account stamp duty, which pertains to second-hand sales.

In its manifesto, the Government set out spending commitments for 2008 of €2 billion to cover issues such as indexing, taxes and reducing PRSI, as well as 4,000 new teachers and 2,000 gardaí on a phased basis. Is the Government now in a situation where it will have to postpone those commitments or will it proceed with them?

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