Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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I point the Minister to his own advice in respect of his own Department officials, to the Commission's report and to other reports done by external agencies that tell us very clearly that the best way to stave off any type of further shock, from Brexit or anything else, is investment in capital infrastructure. The major domestic risk of shock to the economy is the issue of housing. It is nice sitting in here in a cosy chamber but when interest rates are below 1% and the fiscal rules allow us to carry out an additional level of borrowing, I would tell the people in emergency accommodation today that I would borrow. I would borrow to invest in building houses for those people and their families in emergency accommodation, to invest in the education system to ensure we do not slip any further down the international rankings and to ensure we strengthen the foundations of our economy. I would borrow to deal with the level of investment the Minister's Government refused to do, as did the previous Fianna Fáil Government, which resulted in a decade of lost investment.