Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am looking to the fact that the 60% and the 3% are arbitrary constructs and, while we need to set a construct perhaps somewhere, the climate science is quite clear and is a very hard science in that regard. It is a concern. The fiscal rules have had an impact. I mentioned the example of leasing. If we look forward, another example, which is a consequence of the previous application, is the austerity measures. It was interesting that the example given of what we might do with the 0.5 immediately went to not raising public sector wages. There is a shortfall of nurses, teachers, gardaí and everything else at the moment in Ireland. A freeze has impacts and creates social cohesion problems. In regard to public investment, the rule about the state as the spender or investor of last resort is another piece that has come under the economic governance area. There is this assumption that the state would be the investor of last resort. Because many countries were forced to adopt short-term measures and move to contracted staff or services or leasing during the period of austerity, even if those countries, such as Ireland, are now fiscally sound, we are constrained in how we expend, even at times when direct public expenditure might be a more financially effective method of achieving a goal, rather than through a private market measure with the various costs and risks that come with that.