, over and above the economy's potential rate, has brought into sharp focus domestic supply and infrastructure constraints. these, in turn, present a situation where globally - determined inflation in ireland is declining substantially, while more domestically - driven inflation, as reflected in services price inflation, remains significant at around 4 per cent. given current conditions, the continued expansionary fiscal stance adds unnecessary stimulus to an economy at full employment. against the current macroeconomic backdrop, increasing net spending in excess of 5 per cent over an extended period implies that the fiscal stance will aggravate price inflation and wage pressures, undermining competitiveness and creating risks that could damage sustainable economic growth. as my pre - budget letter of 4 july to the minister for finance – and the paper on the housing market we published last month – observed, higher levels of public investment are likely to be required over the coming years given known deficits in housing and to meet longer term structural challenges linked to the climate transition. so while the projected increases in public investment are necessary, careful management of the overall fiscal stance is needed to avoid overheating. with the economy already at full employment, there is a risk that increasing public investment on the scale envisaged fuels overheating pressures and results in poor value for money. to avoid this outcome, it would have been preferable if the upward revisions to public investment had been accommodated while keeping overall net spending below 5 per cent. undoubtedly, this would have presented difficult choices and trade - offs to be made in other areas of expenditure and on taxation. furthermore, to ensure additional government expenditure yields real improvements in services and that infrastructure investment is delivered efficiently, essential change outside of fiscal measures is needed in broader public policy areas. this includes in particular addressing delays and bottlenecks in the planning system, in the building regulation process and in construction. progress in these areas would also help to further incentivise and crowd - in private investment. consumer protection let me turn to consumer protection. the central bank's mission is to serve the public interest by maintaining monetary and financial stability while ensuring that the financial system operates in the best interests of consumers and the wider economy. all of our work is aimed at serving the public interest and protecting consumers of financial services, whether it is through the consumer protection code, the mortgage measures, monetary policy, our oversight of payments systems, or supervising to ensure firms are resilient and are acting in the best interests of their consumers. the environment in which we operate

us well placed to meet the objectives set out in the international memoranda on crisis management issues – where the sharing of information and expertise at national level would be important to the handling of any cross - border financial crisis. in summary, financial stability considerations were key in the design of the organisation. this choice of organisational structure reflected the shared high - level objective of contributing to financial stability for both the central bank and financial regulator. the end result is an organisation with a cohesive and comprehensive approach to financial stability issues. many thanks for your attention today.