Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister is not quite right. The biggest element of the extra tax that came in this year was corporation tax, of which 80% comes from the multinational sector. Nobody in the Government has any control over what cheque the multinationals feel like writing here to suit their global requirements. Although it is out of our control, the Minister is factoring it into future plans. When the figures came out, the Department of Finance officials said they could not fully explain them.

Given the recent terrorist attacks in Paris, if France needs a Supplementary Estimate next year to deal with the crisis, is the Minister saying EU rules will not allow it to happen? Is he saying if various European countries need additional funds to deal with the immigration crisis, the EU rules will prevent it from happening? Let us be real. Every expenditure ceiling the Government introduced here was made redundant the next time it was examined. While there are rules, how flexible are they when push comes to shove?

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