Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)

It is always a question of judgment. There is a lot of advice saying we should front-load the adjustment and there are people who say we are going too fast already. The debate is about whether we reduce demand in the domestic economy unduly so that any hope of growth goes out the window. It is a moot point.

I thought the report by the fiscal advisory council was very good and I thank the chairman and the members of the council who work on a pro bono basis to provide the Government with independent advice. I thought the advice on this occasion was striking.

I spoke previously on whether an adjustment of 1% by 2015 rather than an adjustment of just under 3% by 2015 is appropriate. The way I see it is that the correction will not finish in 2015 and whoever is in government after that date will have the problem of continuing it. Taking on board the advice of the fiscal advisory council, it may be appropriate to set a new target which would get us down to 1% a couple of years after 2015 but it is always a balance between taking demand out of the economy and inhibiting recovery or front-loading the pain so that we get a better run later on. It is a matter of judgment.

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