Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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I welcome the delegation and thank the alliance for its presentation. As it has made a presentation to the Government in this regard, what feedback, if any, has it received from it? While I did not catch it all, Ms Murphy earlier mentioned a process of examination in respect of poverty, inequality, gender issues and environmental impact. By whom precisely does Ms Murphy suggest such examination be carried out? Presumably the examiners would report back to the Government with their own recommendations.

As for the CSRs themselves, this process is ongoing. When members were discussing CSRs this time last year, it was the first time for them because of the European semester process and because on foot of exiting from the bailout, they were unsure of the process that would take place. The Government will be learning from this as to what decisions will be made next year. What would the alliance like to see in the context of the Government's role? How do the witnesses think the Government can learn from the present CSRs? One of Ms Murphy's first points pertained to the first recommendation regarding balanced budgets. There are rules and even treaties that have been supported, such as the stability treaty in 2012 that was voted on by the Irish Government with regard to setting targets. Consequently, these targets are binding and were supported at the time, in part because of the troika and the bailout, but also because people thought that balanced budgets were right and proper and would not lead to the excessive spending that happened in the past. Ms Murphy might comment on that.