Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I am going to come to that because it has been stated very clearly by the Commission, and indeed by most other external agencies, including our own Irish Fiscal Advisory Council. Before we move on from the type of expenditure that we should have, I am sure the Commission is looking beyond the economic data, or maybe it is not. We have huge challenges in this State. There has been an investment drought here both in the private and public sector for the past decade. Our capital investment has gone from about €10 billion down to €4 billion. There are serious cracks now starting to appear. They are going to become more and more obvious and visible. We are going to see massive congestion in our infrastructure and roads, particularly around Dublin city and elsewhere, within the next short period. Our population is continually increasing. While we went through a terrible period of migration, we are going to see it reverse very quickly.

In my view, the fiscal rules are going to be changed because they are unworkable and because we know that countries are breaking them willy-nilly, to the point that the Germans are calling for the Commission to be sacked and for the role to be given over to another agency of Europe, but we will leave that to one side. Let us forget about budget 2017. Budget 2018 for this country has a fiscal space of about €600 million. We have a crisis in terms of housing, health and a serious problem in infrastructure. I appreciate the fact we have a high level of debt that has only reduced because the economy has improved. However, the volume of debt is continually increasing. At a time when the country can borrow at the lowest it will ever likely be able to borrow at, is it not nearly criminal that we are not investing in the long-term health of our nation by borrowing at this time, building the infrastructure, and making sure that we have houses that can house the homeless and those on waiting lists? How does the Commission in any way rectify that or allow for it to happen at this point?