Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Last week, the CSO published a report that showed Ireland's growth rate surging to 26.3% in 2015. It made a mockery of Ireland and was described as leprechaun economics by the Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman. The publication of this report makes no sense, in particular because of the reputational damage it has caused.

Last week, Deputy Micheál Martin called for the data collection methods to be changed and for a proper and fair assessment to be carried out to prevent something like this ever happening again. Is the Government taking that request on board?

The growth rate of 26.3% shows us having a growth rate four times that of China and comes only weeks after the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, said in his summer economic statement that the growth rate this year would be between 5% and 6%. We have to acknowledge that there is economic growth, but it is still very much a two-tier recovery. Large parts of the country have seen no recovery and many people watching today have not felt the benefit of any economic recovery.

We now face the extra challenge of Brexit. The UK has already announced its plans to reduce corporation tax to 15%, and today's newspapers refer to the UK abolishing corporation tax when it is outside of the EU.

That the extra €280 million obligation comes on the back of a report that bore no relation to Ireland's economic growth is absolutely galling. Public services are stretched beyond all limits. The country still has 2,100 children and their families who are without homes and are staying in hostels. Home help hours have been slashed. People with disabilities cannot get access to personal assistants.

It is mind-boggling, to say the least, that this report was published. It was compared to the works of James Joyce and Flann O'Brien in the Financial Times. As a result of this, it would appear that Ireland now has to increase its net contributions to the EU in the form of an extra €280 million. This was confirmed yesterday by the Minister for Finance in reply to a parliamentary question to my colleague, Deputy Michael McGrath. The €280 million requirement could have been spent on housing, health, education or justice. It is real cash and will have to be found in 2017. What impact will it have on our services? What budget will have to account for it?

See this speech in context