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

I thank the Deputy. In the written parliamentary answer she shared with my Department, she referred to capital spending based on the targets set out in 2021 and we interpreted the question as meaning the expenditure targets that were set out in 2021. I will certainly ask my Department to see if we can come back to her about what the expenditure would have been if it was based on a share of GNI. The language that was included in that development plan set a target. We also have many other targets that need to be delivered, including with regard to current spending, as the Deputy will be aware. The Deputy is aware of all the other current spending pressures the Government has to contend with to make progress on all of the things the Oireachtas wants to see improved and, overall, to ensure that expenditure is growing at a reasonable rate that is not creating risks for the taxpayer in the future. It does mean that we have been increasing capital expenditure at a very fast rate. We cannot get all the way up to the 5% figure. The reason for that is that we have had to find money to pay for increases in current expenditure at the same time and we cannot do both.

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