Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Go raibh maith agat, a Chathaoirligh. Dr. O'Sullivan's response to Deputy Creed's engagement was interesting. One of the witnesses spoke about one of the things missing from this. There is nothing in these rules to prevent the Government from increasing revenue if it seeks to increase expenditure. The Mallow bypass is not being stopped by anybody else's rules, but by a Government determination of what to do with increasing revenue. That goes for the whole infrastructural landscape around the country in areas like housing, broadband and roads. I think that is an important issue. I would like to get the witnesses' views on a number of external factors that are positive now but could be negative in the future. The matters in question are making a massive input into the growth levels we are experiencing. Factors like the level of the euro, the price of oil and interest rates would have a strong influence on growth levels. Can the witnesses quantify proportionally, if that is possible, how strong these drivers are with regard to growth? Can they forecast the likely behaviour of these drivers into the future?