Ms Mary Rose Burke:

I thank the Deputy. I will try to address some of the points he has made. Bus routes will be sustainable if the areas they serve have sufficient population density to ensure the buses on those routes operate at capacity. I take the point that a lot of key transport infrastructure will always need an element of subsidy. It is quite difficult to make orbital routes, in particular, operate on a fully commercial basis. For that reason, they will need long-term subsidies.

I agree that a large part of the solution to the housing crisis can be found by looking at derelict sites and buildings and brownfield and infill sites in the city. New-builds are also needed as part of a multifaceted approach.

Investment in infrastructure is required as part of the solution to the challenge the country faces in the context of Brexit. We need to be competitive in response to the various external challenges, including Brexit, we are facing as a small open economy. That is why much of our focus is on transport infrastructure.

If the State had unlimited wealth, of course it would fund these projects from its own resources rather than through PPPs, but that is not the reality. PPPs are part of the solution where the State needs to address critical bottlenecks in infrastructure investment. While they are slightly more expensive than the rate at which the Government can borrow money, it is worth noting that there are constraints on how much money the State can borrow.

That brings us back to the rules. We have long argued that the fiscal rules are absolutely appropriate when it comes to current expenditure. We need some kind of deviation or derogation from the fiscal rules when it comes to capital investment in support of a growing population that is contrary to the European trajectory on populations in other cities. We support the rules for current expenditure, but we would like to see much more ambition in respect of capital expenditure.

The other issue with PPPs is that in the absence of public, private or joint funding, that bit of the kit does not get built at all.

That is not a costless decision because it costs us in terms of the €350 million, projected to €2 billion in 2030, for congestion. There are many other opportunity costs if we do not build the infrastructure in the first place.

When it comes to corporate taxation, we are clear that part of the offer which makes Ireland and Dublin attractive for foreign direct investment is a suite of products such as stable Government, a stable and pro-business policy environment, a good education system and a stable tax environment. What corporates need is stability and to be able to project. They do not want a stop-go on, say, education. Instead, they want key infrastructure and for it to be attractive for their people to live and work here. They also need a stable tax policy. The totality and the talent is a large part of that. Tax is not the only reason they come here. It is an important part of our offering. In light of many of the changes happening elsewhere, I would caution against policy changes which would remove that confidence in a consistent policy environment.