Vol. 208 No. 12
asked the Minister for Finance if he will state, for the purpose of having same for comparison in one document, the amount found by borrowing in each financial year since the inception of the State, including capital raised under the Telephone Capital Acts, Road Fund or other analogous Acts and Budget deficits, but giving credit for Budget surpluses and moneys raised out of taxation for capital purposes such as the Capital Fund.
4.
asked the Minister for Finance if he will state, for the purpose of having the record in one document, for each year since the inception of the State (1) the current Budget surplus or deficit compared with estimate, and (2) the sums, if any, raised by taxation and utilised for capital purposes in so far as not included in (1) above.
I propose with your permission, a Cheann Comhairle to take Questions Nos. 3 and 4 together.
Changes in the value of money, in standards of living and in the role of the State in social and economic matters over the past 40 years are such as to invalidate any ready comparison of figures of the kind the Deputy suggests. For this reason, the time and cost of having the figures collated and published would not, in my opinion, be justifiable.
