Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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55. To ask the Minister for Finance the extent to which he expects to be in a position to offer continued support for those areas of the economy most affected by Covid-19; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10871/21]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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56. To ask the Minister for Finance the extent to which he expects Covid-19-related supports here to equal that of adjoining or competing jurisdictions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10872/21]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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60. To ask the Minister for Finance the extent to which he has focused on various sectors in the economy with a view to boosting the restart; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10876/21]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 55, 56 and 60 together.

To-date, just under €38 billion or 18½ per cent of national income (GNI*) has been provided to maintain incomes, sustain businesses and support our health service.

Broadly speaking, Government intervention has occurred on three separate occasions: the initial policy response adopted in the spring, a subsequent set of measures presented during the summer and, finally, the suite of measures introduced in Budget 2021.

The Government has made use of all three avenues available: direct public expenditure, the taxation system and ‘below the line’ supports such as credit guarantees.

Of the support provided to date, some €6 billion has been spent on Pandemic Unemployment Payments, along with approximately €5 billion on the two wage subsidy schemes.

Business supports have included the Covid Restrictions Support Scheme (CRSS), commercial rates waivers and restart grants.

Health have received an additional €4 billion to assist in building capacity, and securing necessary equipment and PPE.

Contingent supports have included the Credit Guarantee Scheme, the Pandemic Stabilisation Fund, each worth €2 billion, along with a number of loan schemes worth a further €1 billion.

As you can see, the bulk of discretionary fiscal supports have involved ‘above-the-line’ measures: supports that directly improve the financial situation of the private sector, while directly worsening the financial situation of the public sector.

This contrasts with the situation in some other jurisdictions, where ‘below-the-line’ supports, such as loan guarantees, have been the main fiscal policy instrument. The scale of the direct supports means that the Irish fiscal response has been at the upper-end of the distribution of advanced economy responses.

Supports will continue for as long as they are needed. There will be no cliff-edge in their removal.

However, the domestic tax base is not sufficient to cope with this amount of spending beyond the very short-term. Therefore, once the vaccine rollout has progressed and the economy re-opened, we will need to begin to roll back the once-off and emergency measures that were put in place in order to ensure fiscal sustainability.