Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the delegates. To continue Deputy David Cullinane's line of questioning, we are looking at threats to the economy. Whether it be GDP, GNP, GNI or GNI*, one of the biggest blockages being spoken about by delegates to the committee is capital expenditure and our inability to spend money on creaky infrastructure, be it roads, public transport, health services or anything else. There is a list of demands that need to met in terms of basic maintenance, but we are absolutely constrained by the rules which are GDP-based in spending or borrowing money for capital infrastructure projects.

IBEC and ICTU are at each other's throats at the moment on many issues but, on this issue, they are at one. IBEC is saying we need to change the rules. Is this just a grand little academic discussion between Dame Street and Cork, or a Cork-Dublin discussion, or is it actually going to have relevance to the real lives of people? Beforehand, I thought this was going to lead to some sort of a change but from listening to Professor Lane, there will not be any change in Europe. It is just a little discussion to make Ireland feel real about itself but all we are is a footnote.