Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)
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On that point specifically, in the Regling and Watson report, which I assume you're familiar with, I'll just quote the specific paragraph that relates to that under heading D: The Fiscal Stance:

For a long time Ireland's overall fiscal policy was considered to be exemplary because the country achieved fiscal surpluses every year from the mid-90s to 2006, including the creation of a Pension Reserve Fund to make budget surpluses politically more acceptable. However, the nominal budget figures mask and underlying deterioration in the fiscal situation after 1999.

So, in Regling and Watson, they're saying that there is a faultline in the Irish economy going right back into the 90s. Why was that there and how was it not identified by people like yourself whose job would have been to examine, in micro-detail, the economic structure of the Irish economy?