Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Recently we have seen something quite contradictory with this State being both the EU country with the longest period of lockdown yet have the best growth figures as measured by GDP. IFAC has made the case for some time that we should not use GDP and should use GNI* instead. Economists and international experts tell us that GDP in an Irish context is so subject to distortions that it can be quite difficult to use it in any kind of a meaningful sense yet, at the same time, it is frequently used by Government politicians, presumably because it paints a rosier picture than the reality for most people, which they can then take credit for. I do not expect Dr. McQuinn to comment on that. Does the ESRI agree with the proposition that when examining Ireland's fiscal and monetary positions in an international comparison that the use of metrics like debt as a percentage of GDP, which Dr. McQuinn has said, is really flying blind from a policy perspective? What are his views on using GNI* rather than GDP?

Recently, Professor Patrick Honohan had a piece about the actual individual consumption, AIC, but for some reason it is not coming to me. I am interested in hearing Dr. McQuinn's views on that. I ask as it would be great to see international comparisons because GDP is simply not a good metric.