Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The issue I always look at is growth of Government expenditure in comparison with the taxes we collect. It is a valuable barometer. In recent years, the rate of Government expenditure has been a bit ahead of the increase in taxes collected but we have rapidly increased capital investment in the same period. Capital investment has gone up from approximately €4 billion per year in 2015 and 2016 to €16 billion per year. There has been a rapid increase in population in the same period which has had a big impact on current spending.