Mr. Niall Cassidy:

I thank the Deputy for his comments. We would identify with so much of what he said. In particular, if we are looking for examples, just before we moved into the Covid period, we registered a surplus of about €2 billion or so. Why was that important? It was important from a public finances point of view because it gave us the platform and foundation on which we could then support the broader economy through the various measures that were put forward at that time. Again, because the public finances were in order, the Government had the confidence of the markets behind it. We still have the confidence of the markets, but that can turn very quickly. As we have seen elsewhere, that can turn very quickly if a government is not managing those public finances in a coherent and sustainable fashion. That is ultimately what the Government strategy was about, when you look at we were trying to do at the time of the summer economic statement, SES, in particular, last year. We had to get that balance right between continued investment in the productive capacity of the economy and putting the public finances on a sustainable trajectory at the same time to prepare the economy to ensure the markets did not turn on us and we were in a stronger position to respond to these types of challenges that we have been facing.

Unfortunately, as the Deputy has seen, they are becoming more and more frequent. Look at the challenges we have seen over the past couple of years between Brexit, Covid and now the cost-of-living crisis.

None of those issues were on people's horizons a couple of years ago but they are becoming more and more frequent and impactful. As a small, very open economy, it is essential that we are on a strong enough footing to be able to deal with those challenges as they arise. That was the key argument that was part of our countercyclical approach, which we have undertaken over recent years.