Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

In many cases the fiscal stimuli that are being provided were in the productive sector, in the capital area. The average capital investment in EU countries is some 2% to 2.5% of GNP, but in Ireland it is twice that. Different countries are at different stages of development in terms of how their infrastructure matches their requirements. We still have some way to go but have made a huge investment in that area which has made the economy more resilient and offered the prospect of us being more competitive as a result.

In terms of monetary policy and macro-economic policy, there is a very strong, unanimous call for fiscal consolidation. Deficits must be reduced. If deficits are not reduced, interest rates rise. If interest rates rise, there is less income for productive services and less possibility of creating jobs. It is a question of having to consolidate and also a question of bringing forward policies and initiatives in a co-ordinated fashion more successfully than was the case under the Lisbon strategy in order to have the European economy invest in those areas of research and development that would enable us to identify and then obtain competitive advantage in the areas where the 2020 strategy sets out that Europe has the prospect of competing into the future.

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