Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)

Will the Minister explain it to me, please, because the economics of his outlook appear to defy gravity? If we continue to cut as required by the fiscal compact and the austerity programme will it not inevitably produce the same result that we have seen in recent months, that is, growth will continue to contract and we will enter a downward spiral? How can anything else happen if the Government continues to cut expenditure, if there is no investment and if the banks continue to hoard money in the ECB?

See this speech in context