Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

We are entitled to have a discussion on what they have to say. If we fail to do one or two of the three things I have mentioned, our approach will not work. All three have to be done simultaneously. I would like to speak about the question of borrowing and the extent to which there is room for a stimulus package. The stimulus package being provided by the Government is in excess of the stimulus packages being provided by other national governments. Our capital programme provides a stimulus of 5% into the economy. If one examines the severe contraction of over 8% that took place in the first quarter of this year, one will find that 4% of it related to the construction sector and 4% related to the rest of the economy. I have been asked whether there is additional room for borrowing on the part of the Government, in order to stimulate the economy further. The answer is "No". We do not have the capacity to increase our deficits from 10.5% or 12% this year to 13% or 14% in 2010 and 15% thereafter. We do not have that room. We have to use the resources that are available to us, including significant borrowings. Of every €5 of current expenditure this year, €1 has been borrowed. In addition, this year's entire capital expenditure of €7.3 billion has been borrowed. Approximately 11% of tax revenues are being used to service the national debt, and that figure is rising. If we are to ensure that a greater proportion of the resources we are creating on the tax side is not used to pay for our rising debt, we must control our deficits. As Deputies are aware, our deficit has spiralled way beyond what was projected, as a result of the real economic impact the whole global downturn is having on us.

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