Mark Dearey (Green Party)

The ESRI report is unhelpful. I heard on a radio programme this morning a great deal of backtracking from its contents. For instance, an acknowledgement was made that the political context is that we must reduce the public deficit to 3% by 2014. It is of dubious merit to produce a set of hypotheses that were immediately regarded as unrealisable. I wonder what effect the report would have had if the party leaders had not been involved in a lockdown yesterday to analyse the financial position. If the meeting had not taken place, we could have been thrown into a great deal of turmoil today, if for no other reason than that the talks created a deal of stability, as Senator Regan pointed out. The meeting needs to result in the restoration of some confidence.

A great deal of the recovery will depend on global growth. We need to start exporting again. People often criticise the term "smart economy" but what we had in the period preceding 2007 was a stupid economy. The smart economy is the export economy and the opportunities it creates for individuals and businesses. Exports depend on global growth and to that extent Ireland is vulnerable. Export figures will vary and it is difficult to provide the certainty we require but at least the cost of the banking crisis has been identified. This is a significant advantage, horrendous as the final figure is.

As Senator Ó Brolcháin stated, while stimulus is necessary, it will not be provided on the basis of cash injections into the economy. There are ways to stimulate some mobility in housing again. We could, for instance, remove some of the impediments to mobility. Rather than starting a building boom, I propose that we create some mobility.

There are also ways to instil confidence. I am aware of a person who recently purchased prize bonds to a value of €2.5 million. These types of decisions by individuals act as a drain on our economic prospects. We need to unlock spending power again. This will be done through providing certainty which will lead to confidence. In that context, yesterday's meeting was a good start. I hope the Minister for Finance and the party spokespersons on finance can build on it in the coming weeks. I do not seek further rounds of talks among the party leaders. The finance spokespersons can play a vital role in continuing the analysis and arriving at some form of consensus.