Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

With respect, I think the Minister will agree that the relatively minor changes to social welfare will be eaten up quickly by the inflationary pressures, in particular in the energy market, and beyond that in food prices, building costs, etc. People cannot afford to heat their homes or carry out the building that would make it cheaper to heat their homes.

I asked the Minister what he would like to see and I did not hear that. I can read a commentary in The Economist on what Christine Lagarde is doing but I would like to think that we are more than mere bystanders reading the Financial Timesand The Economist, that we have some input as a nation, either at the eurozone table or, more broadly, into our monetary policy, and that we are not just drifting along. As the Minister for Finance of a sovereign state, what does the Minister want to see done with monetary policy in Europe in response to this? Only that will have an impact on inflation and inflationary measures in the long term. Are we entering a period of quantitative tightening? What impact will that have on the Government's ability to borrow?

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