Mr. Vasileios Madouros:

I am not as familiar as others with the specific modalities of delivery. As a general point, it is very good for the Central Bank to engage with various people from industry to understand how some of the specific modalities work and understand better how the economy works, but our perspective is very much a macroeconomic one. Our advice overall to the Government at this stage is that it is clear that there are infrastructure deficits. One can see this in many different dimensions, including when one compares the public capital stock with the stock here historically and with that of other countries, and if one examines specific sectors. From a macroeconomic perspective, infrastructure has implications for our competitiveness. Generally, Ireland has a very competitive economy but, typically, we are further down the rankings when it comes to infrastructure. It matters from a macroeconomic perspective, and that is the lens we bring. Therefore, our advice in the Governor’s prebudget letter, which, to be fair, is much more macroeconomic than some of the specific modalities that the Cathaoirleach has mentioned, is that infrastructure investment needs to be prioritised. That requires choices within an overall sustainable fiscal policy envelope. They are important choices because addressing the infrastructure deficits matters for people now and will matter to people in the future.