Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. First, the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, IFAC, is an independent body which the Government set up because we thought there should be an independent fiscal advisory council in the State. It was set up as part of the response to the financial and economic crisis which the Deputy's own party had a very large hand in creating in the first place and mishandling thereafter. Around the middle of June, the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, will present the summer economic statement in the normal way. The summer economic statement, as has been the case in previous years, will update our financial projections by taking developments in revenue, employment, expenditure, and so on into account. That will be presented in the normal way in the middle of June, as it has been for many years.

As I have informed the House already, the national broadband plan, NBP, will not have a fiscal impact on 2019 and will have a minimal one on 2020, given the carry-over of the money allocated for the NBP into 2020. However, it will have an impact from 2021 onwards, and we will have to provide for that. We are confident that we can provide for that from revenue. It is also important to bear in mind that Project Ireland 2040 and the national development plan provided for contingencies. I cannot remember the exact figure. I thank there might have been between €5 and €7 billion set aside for a contingency, but that is later in the ten-year period and we will have to look at that too.

When it come to the Deputy's question, what should be the most important news is the labour force survey, which came out at 11 o'clock this morning. That shows that there are now 2.3 million people at work in Ireland, which is more than ever before. There has been a net increase in employment of 80,000 in the past 12 months.

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