Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The consequence I was referring to in my earlier remark was the understandable debate that has now arisen regarding the variation in our in-year spending for the implementation of the budget. It is particularly varied in respect of spending in the Department of Health. On the point Deputy Cowen made regarding reliance on corporation tax receipts, I have acknowledged and do acknowledge that that is a risk. That is, however, the reason that this year we put up the VAT rate on the hospitality and services sector. That increase was facilitated by many parties within this House precisely because of the need to broaden our tax base and ensure that we do not become too reliant on a particular tax head. That is also the reason why we have built our budgetary figures for this year off a lower level of corporate tax collection than we received last year.

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