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

Yes, I am, but it continues to be a challenge, one I and my predecessors have faced over many years because in some cases, Government spending can be ahead of profile. Despite the best efforts of all involved, that has required Supplementary Estimates.

All that being said, however, we have to look at where overall Government expenditure has been in the last number of years. It has grown at a moderate pace, if we look at total Government expenditures in the context of what has happened with inflation within our economy and also in the context of the growth of tax revenues during that period. As I said, over the last number of weeks in particular, I and my officials have been engaging with the issues of where spending stands in comparison to where profile spending should be.

Important progress on this has been made. However, we will continue to have more work we need to do in the coming months simply to make sure that when we prepare budget 2025, we are able to continue to be safe with the public finances of the country, while making progress on issues the country will want us to make progress on across next year.

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