Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate that and the fact that Brexit will be a dominant factor for a number of years.

Even without Brexit we still need a change to the fiscal rules. Everybody who is tuned in around this table knows there will be changes to the fiscal rules. There has to be because they are not working. They could not have worked because of the way they were designed and they are definitely not working. It has been acknowledged by all sides with regard to the impact they are having on our inability to invest in certain areas. The Minister's Department officials are scrambling to try to find vehicles that are off-balance sheet so we can invest in social housing and elsewhere. The reason we have to do it off-balance sheet is because the fiscal rules do not allow us to spend money we may have at our disposal on these matters. Even in the absence of Brexit, there is a need to raise the issue of the fiscal rules and show a pathway to having those fiscal rules re-examined so we can put our case forward in terms of the impact it is having.