Making a new pact on debt

For Ireland and similar EU countries to be able to leverage funding for infrastructural projects, they need the Stability and Growth Pact to be reformed.

This week the Taoiseach will attend his first European summit since the recent by-elections in Meath and Kildare. The dominant issue during those by-elections can be summarised in one word: infrastructure.

It is fitting, therefore, that proposals to reform the Stability and Growth Pact will be tabled at that summit. While the pact does not constrain public investment spending in normal countries, Ireland's public investment needs are not normal, due to our exceptional ...