Results 13,061-13,080 of 36,274 for speaker:Pearse Doherty
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Macroeconomic Forecast for 2016: Department of Finance (6 Oct 2015)
Pearse Doherty: What is the assumption today?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Macroeconomic Forecast for 2016: Department of Finance (6 Oct 2015)
Pearse Doherty: Who tells who? Mr. McCarthy is the chief economist in the Department. I presume Mr. McCarthy informs the politicians that the expenditure benchmark is either €1.2 billion or €1.5 billion. I presume the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council has already endorsed Mr. McCarthy's projections.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Macroeconomic Forecast for 2016: Department of Finance (6 Oct 2015)
Pearse Doherty: Therefore, there is obviously a number that is agreed at this stage. Is that correct?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Macroeconomic Forecast for 2016: Department of Finance (6 Oct 2015)
Pearse Doherty: Let me get understand this clearly. Mr. McCarthy informs the Minister for Finance that the expenditure benchmark only allows a package of €1.2 billion. Is that correct?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Macroeconomic Forecast for 2016: Department of Finance (6 Oct 2015)
Pearse Doherty: Mr. McCarthy is telling me that the figure he is basing the forecast on is €1.2 billion.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Macroeconomic Forecast for 2016: Department of Finance (6 Oct 2015)
Pearse Doherty: That is the question. It is the upper limit. To stay within the expenditure benchmark, the figure for the package is €1.5 billion.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Macroeconomic Forecast for 2016: Department of Finance (6 Oct 2015)
Pearse Doherty: That is fine. Since the Department is forecasting five years out and five years back, I imagine the officials have done the arithmetic in terms of the fiscal space for each of the subsequent years. What is the fiscal space for next year? What is the range?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Macroeconomic Forecast for 2016: Department of Finance (6 Oct 2015)
Pearse Doherty: It is for budget 2016, in other words, for 2017.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Macroeconomic Forecast for 2016: Department of Finance (6 Oct 2015)
Pearse Doherty: The Department published a footnote that said there was a space of about €1.5 billion each year.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Macroeconomic Forecast for 2016: Department of Finance (6 Oct 2015)
Pearse Doherty: Is there a chance of much deviation in those figures?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Macroeconomic Forecast for 2016: Department of Finance (6 Oct 2015)
Pearse Doherty: The Irish Fiscal Advisory Council pointed out that the ratio of Government spending to GDP is projected to fall by five percentage points between 2015 and 2020. How will that be addressed given the demographic pressures the State faces?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Macroeconomic Forecast for 2016: Department of Finance (6 Oct 2015)
Pearse Doherty: Yes.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Macroeconomic Forecast for 2016: Department of Finance (6 Oct 2015)
Pearse Doherty: How much would we need to spend each year to not fall, as a percentage of GDP? Does Mr. McCarthy know that figure?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Macroeconomic Forecast for 2016: Department of Finance (6 Oct 2015)
Pearse Doherty: Okay.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Macroeconomic Forecast for 2016: Department of Finance (6 Oct 2015)
Pearse Doherty: In respect of the statement on Friday, Mr. McCarthy mentioned that the deficit would probably come in at about 2.1%. Is that correct?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Macroeconomic Forecast for 2016: Department of Finance (6 Oct 2015)
Pearse Doherty: I presume this is not on the back of an envelope and that the Minister is getting it from the Department.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Macroeconomic Forecast for 2016: Department of Finance (6 Oct 2015)
Pearse Doherty: Let us take the figure of 2.1%. In terms of value, would each 0.1 percentage be about €200 million?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Macroeconomic Forecast for 2016: Department of Finance (6 Oct 2015)
Pearse Doherty: The Minister and the programme update stated 2.3% so there is about €400 million which could be spent and still come in at the 2.3%. Is that correct? The Minister has indicated that there will be Estimate processes, particularly in health and other areas, to deal with overruns and that he still plans to come in on target at 2.3% but because of the tax profile and buoyancy, there...
- Order of Business (7 Oct 2015)
Pearse Doherty: I have two questions. Irish Water has published its seven-year business plan. It stated in a presentation that it would raise €3 billion through borrowing. Clearly, this is unlawful, as the House passed the Water Services (No. 2) Act 2013, section 35 of which states that Irish Water can only have a combined debt of €2 billion at any given time. What does the Taoiseach...
- Order of Business (7 Oct 2015)
Pearse Doherty: It is. Is the Taoiseach seeking to amend the Water Services (No. 2) Act to allow Irish Water to raise additional debt? The rate was set at €500,000 and the current law states it is €2 billion. Is the Taoiseach intending to-----