Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy is correct in that the Department of Finance is conservative in determining the fiscal space. His criticism is that we have done better than we expected every time we made a projection. Had we erred on the other side, the country, as well as the Deputy, would have something even stronger to say. We have been prudent and, perhaps, overly conservative in estimating the pace of recovery. We have an additional €2 billion in tax revenue over what we forecast for this year. It is not once-off. We are 70,000 shy of 2 million people at work. Next year, we will have more than 2 million in work. It is a permanent feature of the economy, please God. As the Deputy saw in the plan we published last week, we intend to have an additional third of a million more people in work over the coming years. This will generate additional revenue. It is not once-off. It can be used to deal with the expenditure pressures we have discussed. The Deputy should not talk about windfall or once-off money. The Revenue has indicated that the corporation tax is not a once-off.

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