Dr. Robert Kelly:

In essence, what the Deputy is describing there is exactly what savings and investment union at the European level is trying to achieve. It is mobilising those savings now. The reality is there are several ways one could build funds. Even the upcoming auto-enrolment pension is a version of this. There are two elements to this.. One is mobilising the savings that are in the base and creating financial product and deepening our financial system to facilitate that, while the second element that we and the whole European Union are going to have to think about is creating an investable market for that such that the return is there. There is a danger that we could start to mobilise those savings but, in essence, they would end up being attracted to what is the biggest technology of the moment, such as the AI we see in the US with the big tech firms. In reality, we have to show there are returns available - we have the likes of the Draghi report and other things - and ways we can invest across Europe, including Ireland, on infrastructure and all of these things whereby some of those household savings will have the benefit of generating greater returns but also increasing the capacity and competitiveness of the European Union.