Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I think the water issue will be resolved once and for all at the next election.

Many people oppose the idea of the European semester process. Many of us see it as eroding sovereignty and reducing economic independence. My view is that the reform is primarily intended to ensure that member states do not deviate from the economic model that is being pushed in Europe. Countries in need of new, radical economic policy changes have been subjected to this disastrous agenda. Professor Barrett mentioned the situation in Greece.

There is a recognition that the economic and fiscal policies of the European Union have had a catastrophic effect on millions of people across Europe. People are being left behind in every country in the Union. There is a disconnect. Later today, Social Justice Ireland will tell us that the gap between rich and poor in the EU is constantly increasing, social rights are being dismantled and so on. We have seen the disconnect during recent election campaigns. Unemployment is still growing, especially youth unemployment. We are lucky in Ireland that people emigrate, which lowers our unemployment rates. There is a disconnect between what Europe is pushing and those millions of working families that are struggling.

One of the country-specific recommendations in the report is to broaden our tax base. What do the witnesses think the EU has in mind in that regard? For the last budget, there was talk of broadening the tax base, but there is also talk of the overall economic impact of eliminating the universal social charge.

One recommendation for broadening the tax base was the sugar tax. One in five children in fourth and fifth class at primary school suffers from obesity. Do the witnesses see that, or a junk food tax, as a way forward? There is a clear linkage between obesity and social and economic background. It is a time bomb and we are not talking about it enough. It is not really on the agenda of any political party in this building. However, we can see it every day in our communities, schools and homes. What are the witnesses' views on this as a way of broadening the tax base to positive social effect?

The ESRI has data on Irish capital spending in comparison to other countries which indicate that our capital spend is too weak. Many of us who are involved in negotiations around Brexit and so on are asking that fiscal rules be relaxed. What are the witnesses' view on this? We need to get our goods to market and improve our ports. Energy is critical. There needs to be a direct linkage to Europe and infrastructure to get our goods to markets on the Continent.

There has been talk of trying to get things off the balance sheet.

For example, we failed with Irish Water and the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland. Would the witness agree that the energy expended upon that perhaps should have been spent in renegotiating the fiscal rules, particularly in light of the impact they are having? The fiscal rules need to be relaxed in view of the disastrous effect which Brexit will have on Ireland's economy and its people. Ireland is a special case. This is about the impact on people’s lives, not just the economy.

There is a sense of double standards in terms of targets. Economic targets are often mentioned but social targets such as poverty reduction and so on also need to be considered. I would like to hear the witnesses’ views on that issue.