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

The headlines emerging from the presentation are volatility in growth and taxation, uncertainty and exposure. Mr. McCarthy highlighted this exposure when he noted that five companies were responsible for one third of exports. Obviously, we should not say "Good luck" to these companies. However, in comparable economies such as Austria and Denmark much greater efforts have been made to expand the indigenous sector so as to insulate the economy from the types of risk to which the Irish economy is exposed. The GDP figure continues to be at variance with the real experience of the economy and this has a distorting effect on many economic indicators, including investment. We measure everything as a percentage of GDP, including investment in education, debt-to-GDP ratios and so forth. These indicators are becoming more corrupted over time. What would happen if the figure for last year when GDP increased by 26% were flipped? How would the fiscal rules be affected if the 26% increase were reversed for a particular reason?