Mr. Seamus Coffey:

The most significant impact we can have is on discussion of some of the issues. I think back to the previous credit-driven expansion and many of the risks were underemphasised and downplayed, whereas now there is much more of an openness to discussing these risks, not only through the existence of entities such as ourselves but even among the documents the Deputy mentioned there which are published by the Department of Finance and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. Previously, it would have probably been unheard of to have some of these risks outlined in such a clear fashion, such as in the annual debt report and the annual tax report that the Department of Finance publishes. They are now clearly identifying Ireland's high level of debt and Ireland's reliance on corporation tax as significant risks to the public finances. The presence of the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council helps in that discussion. There is a group out there that brings these matters out into the open. It is not just us who are talking about these matters. We clearly imagine that these matters are being discussed within the various Departments. The fact that they are willing to publish documents that reference and include these issues is a major step forward. We are not the policymakers but we can inform the debate. We can inform the elected representatives here and the wider electorate. Politicians have a number one aim, namely to get re-elected and one way to do that is to give the electorate what it wants and if the electorate wants poor fiscal policy, by and large that is what it will get, but if its gets a message from us and that somehow feeds through into their thoughts, maybe that will get across to the Members of these Houses.