Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There are pressures of time and such. I have a couple of questions along the lines pursued by my colleague. One relates to the comparison of costs with other OECD countries. There was a point that it is like comparing apples and oranges. The parliamentary financial advisory body has said something similar. We need a basis for this argument. It is not rocket science. It is very simple to figure out what level of our GDP, GNP, GNI, or whatever, is spent. It is easier to convert and compare accurately. They say that we are in the top four or five internationally for expenditure per capita. If the information is not available now, could we please have it? I am trying to adjust the barometer in such a way as to be able to compare like with like so that we know exactly what we are talking about.