Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Anti-Austerity Alliance) | Oireachtas source

The problem we have is the fiscal rules and the fact that countercyclical policies, Keynesian policies, are pretty much made illegal by the fiscal rules. That is the fundamental problem.

I will move on to more detailed questions. There is no increase in the Estimate for the Revenue Commissioners compared to what was outlined in the budget. A significant event happened in terms of tax internationally in that space, namely, the Panama papers, which did detail a number of members of the Irish economic elite being connected to Mossack Fonseca. We know Ireland is a bit of a centre in terms of tax avoidance and that can shade over into tax evasion. Are the Revenue Commissioners sufficiently resourced to deal with tax evasion? Would they like more resources to deal with the issue? If they had more resources, could they do more?

The budget for the Comptroller and Auditor General is very small considering the extent of responsibility for auditing that it has. It is responsible for all the money that goes to the HSE and that money is then effectively outsourced to the likes of Console. We see the impact of outsourcing public services in that way at the moment but that is a broader discussion.

The main question I would pose is that it is responsible, in particular, for NAMA, and given that NAMA is entering into a crucial period as it will write off €40 billion to developers in the next couple of years, surely it needs more resources to be able to properly monitor that situation.