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

The Tánaiste launched a very important initiative yesterday, the Look for Local campaign, which encourages consumers to be aware of the opportunities to spend with local business. The Deputy made the important point that in a open economy such as ours, it is possible that when people start spending again, the money may be spent to the benefit of businesses other than those involved in providing employment and creating income in our country. There is a flip side to that argument, which is that the same high level of savings is evident throughout the EU and in many other developed parts of the world at this time. As those savings are spent, we need to be in a place where our exports are competitively priced and accessible to avail of the demand that is likely to develop in the economies to which we export. As an exporter, we have a stake in the continued openness of economies and those economies being structured in a way that values the sale of goods and services into them. However, I take the Deputy's broad point that we need to ensure that our budgetary and credit policies are consistent with what may happen around the potential reduction in savings in the latter part of next year and beyond.

See this speech in context