Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

To summarise the position - this follows on from some of what Mr. McCarthy and Senator Sean D. Barrett said - we have seen a big jump in corporate profits. We have some of the highest growth levels anywhere in Europe, but because of fiscal treaty requirements, particularly as they relate to the debt burden, there is very little latitude to do anything. In fact, we are, effectively, debarred from translating buoyant economic growth into investment in the economy or redistributing the dramatically increasing profits through various means. Is that, more or less, the picture? We are not allowed to do this and will not be allowed to do so for whatever number of years because of the fiscal rules. We are, therefore, in a straitjacket. We see massive profits and economic growth, inflating wealth which is probably concentrated in a few hands and which we are not allowed to put back into the economy through public spending, capital investment or anything that might benefit the people who have been hit the hardest.