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

Indeed, but Mr. Coffey is stating it actually could significantly exceed what is needed. We saw this before. The only way to prevent it is to plan it, and not to allow it to happen. Does Mr. Coffey agree this is necessary? Similarly we have at least to move away from the distorting impact of foreign direct investment on our figures. Does Mr. Coffey agree this is the rational and prudent thing to do in the medium and long term?

I am probably out of time, but I wish to make another point because I think it should be said. In the same way as our GDP and GNP figures are virtually meaningless in terms of the real state of our economy, is Mr. Coffey looking at this in terms of productivity and labour productivity, because one follows from the other? Labour productivity figures in this country, and this is not in anyway a critique of workers in this country who work very hard and have been forced to work harder for less, are also utterly distorted by the impact of foreign direct investment. They are a fantasy. They are leprechaun figures.