Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I made some commentary during my previous contribution. Will the Minister advise us of his assessment of where the off-balance sheet investment rules currently stand in the context of EUROSTAT and the European Union? To my understanding, it is becoming increasingly difficult to have, for example, public private partnerships classified as they have been for a period as off-balance sheet items, such as with the experience of Irish Water. I think this has a great bearing on the country's capacity to invest in key areas such as housing, health and so on, which we referenced. It might be helpful to this discussion to have a note about the off-balance sheet rules. They have become much more Germanic. Many countries have off-balance sheet investments which were allowed a couple of years ago but which are now being put back on member states' balance sheets through EUROSTAT. That means the investment capacity has become more limited.