Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Thanks very much, a Chathaoirligh. Naturally, Government representatives will tend to see the glass half full and Opposition will see it half empty. I suppose it would be remiss of me not to say that while we may not be perfect as an economy, before Covid we had full employment and rising wage levels that would have been simply unthinkable a decade ago. In the context of the housing market, during the crash, house-building fell to zero. There was no building whatsoever. The latest housing starts number 30,000.

Some of the policies, such as that relating to the new State developer and the new approach to driving supply – there are many of them – are working but that is not what I want to ask about. Broadly speaking, the witnesses are saying the Government is on track but needs to implement existing policies faster. That is useful to know, and we all urge speed, but I would like to know about three specific policy changes that the witnesses would like to see that are not being made. It would be useful for the committee to hear about these.

I want to probe a little the issue of the cost of finance. This has always been an issue in Ireland. Have the witnesses specific suggestions that could start to address the cost of credit, on the one side, and the cost of start-up finance, on the other? They are difficult issues, and we are not seeing new entrants from the banking sector. Are there initiatives we should be considering to address the costs?

The third question I would like to pose is on the obligation on, and need for, the enterprise sector to remove environmental damage from its entire supply chain. The climate aspect is a part of this but the so-called circular economy is also a factor. Do the witnesses believe enterprise is engaging seriously with this agenda? If not, what changes need to be made? To my mind, change is urgent.

Have the witnesses addressed specifically the concept of a circular economy – the idea of considering the entire supply chain and designing out some of the bad features that cause environmental damage? I do not see this figuring much in debates on competitiveness. I believe that in ten years, the companies that have not addressed their supply chain in the root-and-branch way I envisage will not be competitive in the emerging markets, which will be characterised by the European Green Deal.