Aideen Hayden (Labour) | Oireachtas source

Like my colleague, I apologise for not being present for the start of the presentation, which unfortunately clashed with a Seanad meeting that is held at 2 p.m. every Tuesday. I thank the witnesses for the document. I will speak in broad terms and the witnesses can respond accordingly.

My first point relates to the macroeconomic scenario. Even based on today’s figures we are looking at a somewhat better picture than we were even a month ago in terms of the 4.7% growth rate in the economy, which the Commission commented on today. It seemed to be surprised at the extent to which the Irish economy has grown. The growth rate far exceeds the growth rate of our European partners. That, in itself, presents a certain difficulty in the sense that we are somewhat limited by the extent by which we can grow, given the weakness within the general European economy.

It does indicate that we may have more room for manoeuvre than we would have had a year ago in terms of some of the things that we could and should consider. I believe we should have spent more time in the last budget reversing the cuts that we made in previous years, rather than focusing on reducing rates of tax, but that is just a personal view.