Mr. John McCarthy:

On house prices, the Government's strategy is to increase supply. That is being done in various ways within the Construction 2020 framework which includes 75 time-bound actions to help to address various issues, including planning, access to finance, regulations and so forth. There are a number of initiatives under way. Unfortunately, increasing supply is not something that happens over night. There is a long lead-in time, which is just the nature of the beast.

On structural reforms, I will not be specific, but I tend to agree with the Senator that there is scope for further structural reforms in the economy. There is a need for more competition and to reduce regulatory barriers and so forth. The Senator has also correctly made the point that we already have a flexible economy. If one looks at the OECD's research in this area, one will find that Ireland tends to be at the more flexible end, both in product markets and factor markets, but that is not to say there is not more to be done. I tend to agree with the Senator in that regard.

On growth-friendly consolidation, if I recall correctly, we were the subject of a country specific recommendation, CSR, last year and could easily be the subject of one again this year, that the composition of the fiscal adjustment or our fiscal stance be more growth-friendly. I am 90% sure that was the case last year and it is not inconceivable that we could receive the same recommendation this year.