Peadar Tóibín
Question:323. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Finance if austerity measures are being considered by his Department in response to the economic impact of Covid-19. [16545/21]
View answerWednesday, 31 March 2021
Questions (323)
Written answers
In responding to the impacts of Covid-19, the Government has made available fiscal support totalling €12.6 billion this year. This incorporates an additional direct expenditure allocation of €6.5 billion and taxation measures to the value of €700 million.
The Government also provided for €5.4 billion to be set aside in two contingency funds in 2021 – the Covid Contingency Fund and the Recovery Fund. This is to ensure that any additional costs arising from the pandemic can be met within the existing budgetary arithmetic. And while a high degree of certainty remains, it is the Government expectation that additional costs of the current restrictions can be met from this.
We are undoubtedly still in a period of unprecedented uncertainty. The impact of the current restrictions will have an obvious negative impact on the public finances. However, once the public health situation allows, supports will only be unwound in an appropriate and incremental way. When we are in a position to reopen the economy safely, it is expected that economic growth will do much of the ‘heavy lifting’ in restoring the public finances to a sustainable setting.