Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. That would be very helpful in order to allow us to finalise our own proposals which we will submit to the Minister in the coming days. There are a lot of moving parts and without access to such critical information we would have to take a guess at what level of adjustment is required to achieve the different deficit levels.

The Minister indicated yesterday that he would consider an adjustment of somewhat less than €3.1 billion. Is he minded to bring in an adjustment that delivers the 5.1% or is he minded to send a strong signal to the markets by aiming for a deficit below 5.1%? What factors is the Minister taking into account in setting the overall adjustment figure? How important is it to come in below 5.1%, or on 5.1%, and to what extent will he be driven by the composition of the budget? The most important issue is the composition from a tax side and from an expenditure side and the impact the specific individual measures will have on people who rely on essential public services and those who are paying taxes.

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