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

I would not put up with that if I was the Minister's Cabinet colleague. Never has so much power been concentrated in the hands of so few. It makes a mockery of the constitutional principle of collective Cabinet responsibility. This is not a mature way of framing the budget, whereby even those who are meant to be making the decision are kept in the dark until the last minute.

I have already said that the recovery is real and that we warmly welcome it but the Minister failed to mention in his speech that he has had some luck along the way. I refer to the European statistical standards. It is worth explaining to people the difference they have made. They have increased the level of Irish GDP by more than €10 billion last July, when the announcement was made that the economy had grown by 6.5% overnight because of the inclusion of illicit activities and a number of other areas. That did not affect growth rates because the previous years' GDP was also changed but it mattered in regard to the percentage deficit. While the cash deficit remained unchanged, it is now being expressed as a percentage of a much higher GDP figure. The result was that the deficit at the end of last year was recalculated from 7.2% to 5.7%, bringing us a lot closer to the 3% limit. The Minister got lucky with this technical reclassification, which could just as easily have gone the other way. Given that it bounced in our favour on this occasion, it made a difference of €2.7 billion in respect of tax increases and spending cuts which he did not have to introduce. That is positive but we got lucky, even if he will not admit it.

On corporation tax, I hope the Irish football team in Gelsenkirchen show a lot more resistance to German pressure tonight than the Minister did in regard to corporation tax. We all know that he was under intense pressure from his colleagues in Germany, the European Commission and the OECD. I am sure it was uncomfortable to attend ECOFIN and euro group meetings over the last several months but he has decided to pre-empt the process. He made a number of positive changes to the intellectual property regime and in other areas, which I welcome, but anything that introduces uncertainty in regard to Ireland's corporation tax regime is risky.

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