Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I will start by responding to the Deputy's second point. Just over €26 billion in tax revenue had been received by the end of October. That figure represents a year-on-year decline of 17%. Against the profile, overall tax revenue was down 4%, or €1.074 billion, by the end of October. VAT and income tax continue to be the weakest tax heads against the targets that were set. In response to the Deputy's first point, the returns to be released by the Department of Finance at 4.30 p.m. show that there was an Exchequer deficit of just over €22.7 billion at the end of October 2009. The main factors in that year-on-year deterioration are the year-on-year decrease in taxes of just over €5.4 billion; banking-related payments, such as the payment of €4 billion to Anglo Irish Bank; and the increase of €1.7 billion in the National Pensions Reserve Fund payment, by comparison with the payment that was made in the year to the end of October 2008. A total of €3 billion in front-loaded contributions has been paid to the National Pensions Reserve Fund to date in 2009, compared to the payment of €1.3 billion that had been made by this time last year. When the Exchequer returns were published at the end of September, the Department of Finance signalled that there would be a shortfall of approximately €2 billion in tax revenues at the end of the year. That implied that there would be a year-on-year decline of approximately 20% in tax revenue. I understand that the data in the October returns is consistent with the earlier end-of-year forecast.

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