Like the victim of a stroke, the longer our economy is deprived of the oxygen of commerce, the worse the long-term damage” – they’re the words of John Halligan the minister of state for Training and skills and he joins us now. 

Listen and subscribe to Newstalk Breakfast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Download, listen and subscribe on the Newstalk App.

You can also listen to Newstalk live on newstalk.com or on Alexa, by adding the Newstalk skill and asking: 'Alexa, play Newstalk'.