David Cullinane (Sinn Fein)

It puts in a new rule, a structural deficit target of 0.5%. Of course, it also puts in place a debt-brake rule, where it sets a percentage for a country's debt-to-GDP ratio of 60%. Currently, ours is approximately 105%. It will be 120% in 2015 and must be reduced by 5% every year until we get down to 60%.

Senator Feargal Quinn made the point that this merely forces us to put money away for a rainy day.