Lisa Chambers (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I was going to reference the 6.7% growth rate for 2018. In the council's non-technical summary, it compared this to a 4.9% growth in 2015. That is a significant increase in the pace of spending.

The witnesses touched on the issue of spending drift. In 2018, spending was almost €10 billion higher than originally projected. That is a colossal amount. It seems as though spending is out of control without there being much of an explanation. Is it fair to say that, if those surpluses had been run in the past three years, a period in which we have been debating Brexit, the country might be in a better position to deal with the forecasted economic downturn that in the event of a no-deal Brexit, which appears to be the most likely outcome?