Rose Conway Walsh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I want to clarify remarks I made yesterday on the alternative budget and the fiscal space available to this country. Yesterday, the Leader said that Sinn Féin's fiscal space was multiples of the figures available and he is correct. The EU fiscal rules allow for spending on capital investment to be averaged out over four years and, therefore, only use a quarter of the fiscal space in the first year. I cannot make this matter any simpler for Senator Buttimer.

I would have thought that Fine Gael was sufficiently chided and embarrassed by its last foray into the fiscal space at the beginning of the election campaign to attempt another, so I admire the party's bravery.