Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. I meant I would give him another book in return. One book I might give in return, one I think he would enjoy, is the recent publication by the National Economic and Social Council which updated a report carried out a number of years ago in the context of recent events. It is called, Ireland's Five-Part Crisis, Five Years On: Deepening Reform and Institutional Innovation. One of the summaries was that, overall, the crisis had revealed that past progress had been less comprehensive and sustainable than we had believed. It stated we had not adequately addressed non-participation and disadvantage in the boom. It also stated our relationship with the international system had been revealed as more one of vulnerability and dependence than we had thought and our overall system of collective decision-making and public governance had been shown to be extremely weak. They are the challenges and questions to which we need to collectively respond.

That leads me to the final point I wish to make on the essence and concept of sovereignty. The argument has been made that there will not be any change following our exit from the programme. We are going to move to a mode of governance in which others will look at the consequences of decisions we make as opposed to institutions making decisions with us, which is where we were. That is a huge step forward in the nature of sovereignty within the country, but ultimately it will only matter if we can deliver a dividend on foot of the increased decision-making to the people we represent. That leads me back to the need to invest again in the kind of society or future we want to have. I hope the Government’s publication of a mid-term fiscal strategy will provide a vision for the future on which we can all agree or disagree but at least debate.

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