Dr. Ger Gibbons:

Our proposals were devised before the summer economic statement so we have not had the opportunity to look at that in sufficient detail. As Ms King said in her opening remarks, looking at it in the broader sense, Ireland is a rich country but we spent approximately 85% of the average of our peer countries, France, Germany, the Benelux countries and the Nordic countries. That amounts to an underspend of approximately €12 billion a year. We will not get to that. That will take a number of years, a decade or so, if we decide to achieve that level. We agree that the underspend of what is proposed, the net fiscal space this year, is considerably less than what it should be. In our pre-budget proposals, we will propose additional revenue measures of approximately €1.3 billion. That would include things such as the abolition of the 9% VAT rate that the Department of Finance has estimated would raise approximately €500 million. We propose that approximately €500 million in additional spending be allocated to social and affordable housing next year. In rough terms, that could build over 2,500 social and affordable homes next year, if we decided to do that. It was done in the past, in the 1940s and 1970s. It should not be beyond us. We went from 600 homes in 1946 and 1947 to approximately 11,000 in 1950 and 1951. It has been done in the past so it could be done again.