Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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On his contribution and all of the contributions he makes, I agree with him on the level of need and the many challenges we face in public services, whether it be health or housing, and I am committed to addressing them. On the same side of the coin let us also acknowledge that we are now in a position where it is very likely later this year that we will have more people at work than we ever had, that we will be investing more in public services, in other words, schools, hospitals and public transport, than we were able to do for many years. The Deputy's overall contribution proves the point Deputy Lisa Chambers put to me, that it is a matter of an opportunity cost. It is a fair point that if we spend money in setting up a rainy day fund today, it will mean that there will be other things we will not be able to do, but setting up a fund is a good idea, one that could be of help to the country in the future when we will again face some difficulty. Whether it is a house, home or country, it is sensible to have money available to deal with it when we get to that point.