Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

We read in The Irish Timesthis morning that the Minister for Finance briefed the Fine Gael Parliamentary Party on the upcoming Exchequer figures. That is a great privilege for all those in Fine Gael. The rest of us will find out afterwards. It appears that the Minister, Deputy Noonan, has briefed his colleagues to the effect that the tax receipts for November will be some €280 million above profile. That would bring us to an end of year position of approximately €900 million over profile, the amount needed to meet all the commitments the Government has already given. The trend means that it is reasonable to assume that the December tax receipts will also be substantially above target. That means also that the Tánaiste and her colleagues will have room to help the living standards of working people. I hope she does help working people, but I very much doubt she will do that.

There are many ways the Tánaiste could do that, and I ask her to outline those to the House. For instance, some acceleration of public sector pay restoration could easily be done for the amount we are talking about, thereby avoiding the industrial unrest coming down the line. Given the flawed, highly political and legally unsound water commission report published during the week-----

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