Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Yes, stable. I would be interested to hear the witnesses' take on that. Some of us have been saying for a long time that this country's economic model has a significant overreliance on foreign direct investment. The dangers of that have been highlighted in a very strong way in the context of the Brexit debate. We can see it again today with the Hewlett-Packard announcement. We need to be talking about much greater diversification of the economy and the development of a diverse indigenous industrial base. Will the witnesses comment on that?

I welcome the witnesses' general commitment to social housing. I agree with them that the voluntary housing bodies do not really have the capacity to deliver the scale of social housing that is required. This is a big weakness in the Government's proposal but why do they believe we are similarly unable to rely on the local authorities? They spoke about a different model. I remind them that the most successful period of social housing construction in this country was delivered by local authorities. That was when it worked. Obviously, there are problems such as the running down of capacity, but I think they could be reversed.

I strongly disagree with the witnesses on the education front. Given the importance of generally upskilling and encouraging people into education, why on earth does IBEC support the introduction of fees and loans? I think it is bonkers. That is my serious opinion. It will certainly limit access to education for some people. It will be a disincentive for people. It will leave a massive financial overhang for people. I do not see why on earth IBEC would favour that.