Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I have raised this before, umpteen times. In the summer economic statement - which I think the Minister, Deputy Donohoe set out in fairness to him - we have had a range of general Government balances previously when we were dealing with the pandemic. The OECD BEPS process is a major issue. There is no doubt about that. Our assumptions are old ones. They have to be updated. The pillar 1 deadline has passed and therefore, if pillar 1 does not go ahead, it changes the numbers dramatically, by billions of euro. That should have been provided in the summer economic statement. That is my point. We need that information. I have had this conversation with Mr. McCarthy. It is seriously important for Opposition parties to have this information and it needs to be provided.

I have a couple of questions. With regard to the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, I asked him before about the defective concrete blocks scheme.

When the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, was before the committee he said he did not have the information. I asked the Minister whether, as the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council had pointed out to him, there was provision after year one. The Minister said he would check it out and come back to the committee. We have not received the information from him. Will the Minister tell the committee whether there is expenditure in the base for each of the years under the summer economic statement for the defective concrete blocks scheme? What are the allocations each year?

Will the Minister also inform the committee about the €4.5 billion that was non-core spending that is now core spending, or contingency as we used to call it. Is this all in the base and what are the component parts? In the past the Minister would have broken it down helpfully in terms of Ukraine, Covid, EU funds and other non-core expenditure. Will the Minister also provide that breakdown to the committee?