John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Parliamentary Budget Office, PBO, which informs this committee and does a lot of research for us, has published a number of pieces recently with which Dr. Cassidy may be familiar. We can all see the challenges facing the Government. There is real pressure coming from particular forces who argue every time there is a crisis, either with a small or a capital C, that the Government must respond with reductions across different areas. Obviously if the Government reduces VAT or excise duty, at some point it will have to raise them again when the crisis is over and therein lies the difficulty. The pandemic exacerbated the trend for increasing public debt but is that sustainable into the longer term, particularly with regard to health spending? What is the Central Bank's view on that?