Shane Ross (Independent)

I could not agree more, but sovereign debt and bank debt are the same thing, as the Minister of State knows perfectly well. If the Government is servicing the bank debt, it will come out of the taxpayers' pockets. It is the same thing in the end. The Minister of State is just playing semantics and talking technical nonsense. At the end of the day, it will come out of our pockets and will be part of the budget arithmetic. If the Minister of State wants to separate them, it is up to him, but at the end of the day the same source of funds will pay for it and we need that figure in the plan.

I find it difficult to find any basis for the plan's growth projections. It is difficult to believe we will have an average growth rate of 2.85% over three years, which seems to be based on the 6% rise in exports this year. For some reason the Government believes that will balloon while the rest of the economy stays steady. Why does the Minister of State believe we can grow at the rapid rate predicted in the plan in years when we are cutting public expenditure and increasing taxes? There may well be some reason for believing that, but normally if there is less money to spend, growth will not be encouraged. There must be some exceptional reason for projecting that the economy will be able to grow at a high rate despite the fact that we are taking money out of people's pockets and reducing public expenditure, with social welfare and other cuts. It does not make sense initially and to rely on the export argument is very tenuous.

I do not know why the Minister did not do something else. Why have we so successfully defended the 12.5% corporation tax? We defended it not so much because we wanted the revenue from it but because of the incredible boost it gives to the economy. I congratulate the Minister on defending it successfully. I believe there was some pressure to raise it, but there has always been such pressure, although I suspect it was exaggerated in order the Government could tell us it had saved it. However, why did the Minister not think differently? Given that the argument for it is so strong, why did he not suggest cutting it? The 12.5% rate is the most important anchor of our economic growth and exports. It attracts the multinationals which are the vibrant part of the economy. US multinationals provide 112,000 jobs, something which must be encouraged. What is the best way of doing so? The Minister should tell the European Commission that we are reducing it to 9.5%. Why did he not do this? It would be the way to increase exports, employment and investment. There would be a short-term loss of tax but this could be made up elsewhere. God knows, the Minister has been brutal enough elsewhere.