Máire Devine (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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The witnesses tut-tutted the €9.4 billion budget coming in a couple of weeks. I will just leave that there. They think that package is too large.

Going back to the point on loose fiscal policy, under the heading, "Supporting long-term prosperity", the witnesses' opening statement points out that a credible financial anchor was capital spending. Capital spending on infrastructure is staring us in the face, in that our population is to reach around 7 million over the next two or three decades. That is an ageing population, so there are particular health infrastructure needs. We have issues with schools and lots of other things, but I am focusing on health facilities, given my background. What percentage of the budget should capital spending be less taxes cuts and current spending? What should the ratio be given the demands that are coming up?

Climate change was not touched on. It is a short-term risk. We always looked at it in the medium or long term. It is short term. We saw what went wrong in Europe over the summer with the heat, the environment, the land, the water supplies, people's health, all those significant elements and the knock-on effects. How is that gauged? Do the witnesses gauge that at all in their outlook?