Liam Herrick

So, for example, the response to the fuel protests, but also large infrastructure projects.

And if spending doesn't come in exactly on budget, there are penalties and there are real repercussions.

But there are other parts then where that's not followed through.

And I think that's the difficulty.

It's not that public sector spending generally is problematic.

There are some areas where it's very tightly marshaled and there are other areas where it isn't.

And I think that's a real question for the governance and the rules within the system.

What's happened over the last couple of weeks, I think, has undermined credibility and public trust.

If, you know, for example, Eoin Reedy from the Congress is saying that, you know, we've been told to go through negotiations, go through a public pay process where there's going to be discussions about small percentage increases.

And then we see 750 million pulled out of nowhere.

because people shut the country down for a couple of weeks.

How do you have a reasoned adult conversation about public sector pay on one hand for people who really need it and the cost of living is going up when you see a massive gesture towards one sector because they shut down the country?

Look, it's also about leadership and politicians willing to say the hard things at times as well that people don't want to hear.

I mean, you know, there were certain sectors that were really badly affected by the sharp increase in diesel.

And, you know...

The response to that was to give tax cuts.

But if this is a prolonged crisis, we're going to have hard conversations about how we reduce demand on fuels.

Because obviously the government can't do this on an ongoing basis.

And that means about investment in alternatives.

And it might mean small sectoral supports from time to time for industries that are affected.