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

This is where I find there is great inconsistency in the thinking of the witnesses and, for that matter, the political mainstream. When the left would make the same argument in respect of public investment and public works programmes, in housing or health, the witnesses would be the first to jump on us and say it is dangerous and unsustainable and would lead to overheating. We would be told there has to be a need for a more balanced economy. The witnesses would be the first to jump down our throats but when they are identifying a massive distortion in our figures such that we have to create a new measurement of the economy because no normal measurement actually measures our economy in an accurate way, it is regarded as acceptable due to the fact that it creates 100,000 jobs. A distorted property market created 300,000 jobs before the boom. Is Mr. Coffey recommending a return to that model because it will create 300,000 jobs?