Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I also want to touch on the rainy day fund. We are told its creation will allow the Government to address future crises, if and when they happen. The difficulty I have with the rainy day fund is that we have crises that need to addressed right now. I refer to homelessness, the lack of affordable childcare, which Mr. Martínez Mongay pointed out himself, and a skills mismatch, which he likewise pointed out. To address them, I feel it would be more prudent to invest now rather than squirrelling away some funds in a rainy day fund. There is an issue around whether what is being proposed by the Government is actually a rainy day fund or a contingency fund. Given recent experience of downturns and shocks to the Irish economy, €8 billion would be just a drop in the ocean of what has been previously spent.

I have some questions. On the rainy day fund, would there need to be a change in the fiscal rules to allow its creation? The Commission made, and Mr. Martínez Mongay spoke of, some recommendations on the over-reliance on corporate tax, the narrow tax base, the issue - that we saw even this year - regarding commercial stamp duty, the effective and timely implementation of the national development plan, addressing the skills mismatch and the lack of affordable healthcare. There is a contradiction between putting away the extra money we have into a rainy day fund but having to address all of these issues as well. Will Mr. Martínez Mongay comment on that?

It was my understanding that the whole point of the fiscal rules was to create buffers in the first place that would ensure prudent public finances and prevent unsustainable expenditure and trends. Would Mr. Martínez Mongay agree that the Stability and Growth Pact, SGP, in the forms of the medium-term objectives, MTOs, and the expenditure benchmarks, is not an adequate countercyclical buffer in itself and therefore minimises the need for a rainy day fund now? I refer to having crises that we have to deal with now rather than preparing for ones that may come farther down the line.