Mr. John McCarthy:

To address the last point, the Deputy is absolutely correct in that clearly there are infrastructural shortages in the economy. My concern, however, is about what would arise if we were to try to address them through deficit-financed expenditure which would have been satisfactory when the debt ratio was 25% of GDP, as it was in 2007. When the debt ratio on a GNI* basis is probably in excess of 100% of GDP, it is appropriate and cautious not to finance capital expenditure through deficit-financed expenditure. This begs the question as to how it might be addressed. There is some scope, more within the remit of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, to shift between current and capital expenditure or to pay up-front through higher taxation, which would be a policy choice. It would be a bad idea, however, given the existing level of public indebtedness, to try to address it through deficit-financed expenditure. There are other mechanisms, including through the EIB, as mentioned by the Deputy. That is certainly a possibility, but I refer to keeping the expenditure off balance sheet.