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

The Deputy has raised an incredibly important point. The reason we have had a higher level of public spending in place is to coincide exactly with the huge reduction in private spending, consumption and investment which has, in turn, been mirrored by the increase in savings to which he referred. When we get into a situation where those savings begin to be released into our economy, we will then have decisions to make about what is the appropriate level of public spending that will be needed. The public spending we have had this year and our plans for public spending for next year are absolutely appropriate in the context of the collapse, and potential collapse, of private sector demand, income and employment. We probably were successful in staving off even worse outcomes in all of this by way of the level of public spending we have implemented. However, the Deputy is correct that the consequences of how those savings are used in our economy will be a huge factor in how we decide the right economic policies for our country for the years to come. I hope that decision is driven by what will be the great development of the availability of a vaccine and a corresponding improvement in public health. That would be a wonderful point to get to.

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