Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I believe the Minister is constraining himself in a way he does not need to in the approach to that. Everybody welcomes the principle of setting up these funds but the devil is in the detail. It is awfully important that we look not only at this year and next year but the years beyond that.

On the Minister's concerns around the three options and the lack of flexibility I suggest the way to do that is to have a proper assessment of the investment that is made. If one is investing in housing, for example, it would be linked to productivity so one can show it really clearly. It would be linked to productivity but if we were in a do-nothing position it would also be linked to the constraints that will continue in the economy in the context of human capital and other investments there. I believe there is a broader way for the Minister look at it rather than constraining the provision to just the full amount, half the amount or zero and the messages that would send.