Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am not concerned about one element of inflation so much, having regard to the experiences of the past. It is when there are a number of competing elements, all of which contribute to inflation, that I would get worried, and I mentioned house prices for starters, although there are other issues. However, there are some areas where we could control our own destiny to some extent, for instance, in regard to energy. We could have produced more energy, particularly wind energy, over the last number of years, and while there are those who would say that is linked to international energy prices, that is not necessarily the case. If we are able to buy it from ourselves at a lower rate, it has to make some beneficial contribution in the context of inflation. That is the kind of thing we need to be looking at now because energy is a critical issue. If we do what has to be done in that area and produce energy at a competitive rate, at least it will be of benefit to our own market. If the time comes when we can sell it to others, that will be of benefit to our economy as well.

I do not want to delay the meeting and I have to attend another meeting where I have to ask questions also. I will finish by saying that I believe we need to watch it very carefully. All possibilities need to be examined with the objective in mind of arresting the trend in inflation. If the trend continues for too long, it will create problems and reversing it will be that much harder. We could curtail credit and we could increase taxes, and all of these things have been done before, but all of them will also slow down the economy, of course, so that remains to be seen. I would hope that, from the golf bag we are selecting the club from, we take something out of that bag as soon as possible with a view to achieving at least a target that we can manage in the future, that of inflation.