Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 11 February 2015

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis

Context Phase

Photo of Michael McGrathMichael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Professor FitzGerald related a very interesting anecdote about the 2007 general election. It is instructive for anyone to look at the manifestos of the time. Some might characterise it as a contest of who could give away the most. Why does Professor FitzGerald think there was such an approach by a number of political parties at the time? Was there something approaching a national consensus that low tax, high spend was the way to go and that the model was sustainable?