Dr. Stephen Kinsella:

On overheating, I have a significant worry regarding the commercial debt space because it is totally understudied and I do not know how big it is.

On the labour force participation rate, investment in childcare is quite helpful. Reform of the higher education system is also required. A friend of mine very much wants to go back to college, but cannot do so because I cannot tell her when her lectures will be and, as a result, she cannot organise childcare. The higher education system is not sufficiently flexible.

On the connection between voted and actual expenditure, the answer is programme budgeting. If expenditure was broken down by section such as radiology or oncology, rather than a load of money being allocated for the health system, one would be able to see which sections are performing and which are not. Programme budgeting has been around in the United States since the 1960s. It is the way forward and we should utilise it. I will send the committee a list of people it may wish to consider inviting to appear.

On the cost of debt, the debt is large, but it is far away.

Unfortunately for us, the roll-over risk is quite great because we are very easily classified with other small open economies. That is something we need to manage.

If I were to pick one thing for the committee to take away, it would be the idea of sponsoring research into programme budgeting. We can do this; it is not rocket science. If we take that approach, we would know which parts of the health system work and which do not.