On the budget in October

"We'll have a space of about €1.2 billion and €1.5 billion and this will be for tax reductions and for extra spending to provide better services across the country."

How the budget will affect citizens

"The ordinary man and woman in the street or at work can expect reductions in their personal taxes, working through reduced universal social charge and income tax, and they can also expect an improvement in the services provided by the State for themselves and for their children."

Who will benefit most

“We’ll mirror what I did last year. We’ll direct the benefits of the tax cuts to low-paid people and to middle-income people. Everybody will get something but we will cap the benefit, as we did last year, so that there aren’t disproportionate gains for people on very high incomes.”

The fiscal manoeuvrability of the next budget

"The firm figure would be €1.2 billion. We have absolute hard evidence that that's where we are now, but we have an expectation – and it's evidence-based expectation – that between now and October we will have somewhere around another three [hundred million] to add to the €1.2."

On the impact of the new fiscal rules

“We’re also of course operating within the new fiscal rules. I’ll actually have more money than the €1.5 billion at my disposal, but under the rules we can only spend the €1.5 billion. Another part of the income we’ll have will be used to continue to reduce the deficit so that we move on towards a balanced budget in a couple of years time.”