Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The European Commission also acknowledged that Ireland's public finances have improved immeasurably. We have entered the preventative phase of deficit management. This is extraordinary progress when measured against the position we were in a number of years ago. I had hoped the Deputy would have acknowledged this progress when commenting on the need for capital investment. I have acknowledged the need to increase capital expenditure and the Government will work towards that end. However, we should take a different approach to capital expenditure. Rather than identifying how much additional money we want to spend and using this figure as a target to be achieved, we should identify what projects we want to deliver, work out their costs and complete them.

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