Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The closer we get to the budget, the less free I am to give out detailed information about either elements of the budget or the approach. However, in general terms the approach outlined in the medium term projections published during the week holds. We will achieve a target of 7.6% of GDP if we do a correction of €3.5 billion. The Deputy many not have noticed it but in the revised forecast downward, the forecast for 2012 has actually increased and it is now 0.9%. I believe it will come in at 1% and this will change the base. That is the first thing we should remember. These things will continue to move within margins during the next three weeks as most of the data comes in.

Deputy McGrath will have noticed this morning that the sale of the telephone spectrum achieved a far higher price than was pencilled in. It appears that more than €400 million will accrue to the 2012 accounts. It appears we will come in at lower than the €8.6 billion which is in the arithmetic for the year. That was the budget position but it will probably be lower than the €8.3 billion that was predicted in the forecast in the latter part of the year. It is moving within parameters but at this stage since we have done the first cut of the arithmetic on the budget we are confident that an adjustment of 3.5 billion will be sufficient to get us to a deficit of 7.6% of GDP.

See this speech in context