Dr. Kieran McQuinn:

Generally, I agree that key deficits arise particularly after a huge shock such as this. The construction sector, which the Deputy mentioned, is a classic example. When I was presenting at various construction-related conferences and forums, particularly from 2012 to 2015 onwards, and talking to people in the business, it was clear that there had been a near wipeout of people going into the basic trades that are necessary for construction-related activity. This is the kind of issue we were touching on when we were discussing the overall effects of Covid on the property market, for example. When there is a very sharp, profound shock such as the one we experienced, it tends to have much more of an impact on the supply side of the market because people are reluctant to go into construction, learn the various skills and take up the basic training programmes that are required to meet the day-to-day requirements of the sector because confidence is essentially wiped out. The Deputy is correct when he suggests that we need some kind of audit and an appreciation of where the different sectors are at. That will ultimately have an impact on the potential recovery of the economy overall. We need to see the ways that policymakers can intervene to reduce the restrictions that are there, including those which may always have been there and those which may have come about because of the pandemic. I return to my earlier point on the need to look at debt levels among SMEs to see if something can be done to try to get those businesses back up and running. We need some kind of audit on policy measures that could be undertaken in relation to logjams or rigidities that are there anyway but which have been brought on more by the Covid issue.