Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate that.

I wish to discuss the once-off expenditure measures. Let us consider the hypothetical example of restoring the Christmas bonus. Am I not correct in saying the expenditure benchmark will be measured against the expenditure of 2015? If there is an expenditure increase in the Department of Social Protection, that would be the baseline against which one will be measured in 2016 and it would allow the Minister to circumvent the expenditure benchmark rules.

The Minister told Deputy Michael McGrath that the carry-forward in taxation is not included in the €750 million of taxation measures he will propose. On expenditure and how we comply with the rules, given the demographic pressures and the €300 million that is needed just to stand still in terms of policy, is that part of the €750 million that is earmarked for expenditure and in relation to the restoration of pay coming from the unwinding of the financial emergency measures in the public interest legislation or does that all need to be accommodated within that budget to meet the rules by which we must abide?

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