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

The additional tax above profile at the end of eight months, at the end of August, was €1.4 billion but a big chunk of that is needed to get the deficit down to 2.3%. Our requirement under the rules was to get the deficit below 3% and we budgeted for 2.7%. As it is well below that, it consumes much of the extra tax. I will know better on Friday and I will make a full statement then on where we are at the end of nine months. The trend of additional tax over profile coming in seems to be continuing in September. Based on the final figures that we will have on Wednesday, we can guesstimate our forecast, if one wants to use that word, of how it might end up at the end.

If there is a decision in government, obviously one has to cover overruns in Departments and that is through the Supplementary Estimate process with which the Deputy is familiar. If anything new is proposed, it would have to be in 2015 and it would have to be once-off because if there is a carryover into the following year - it affects the figures.

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