Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

When the Commission outlined its views on Ireland's economy - Mr. Buti referred to 2006 in this regard - in 2005 it described the potential output gap as being between 5% and 6%. Despite what has been provided to the members of the inquiry by the investigation team, all of the patterns show that this could not possibly be the case or that there was at least a risk involved. For example, demographics was an issue in the context of labour force participation and there was a tailing off during the period in question. Is it the case that the Commission was given these estimates and that it knew them to be based on a flawed set of calculations? In light of Mr. Buti's assertion that in 2006 the OECD was asked to examine how the calculations were carried out, is the opposite the case?