Alan Barrett

which inevitably will experience a downturn in the coming years, that we won't have the fiscal firepower to insulate and protect people, you know, when the economy is turned down.

We've had this history in Ireland for many, many years.

They may be asking, but for God's sake, can we have a mature politics and media and a discussion generally?

Do you honestly think?

I don't know.

Here's the point.

OK, we absolutely need to look after people who need to be looked after.

I don't think anybody has any difficulty.

But what I'm trying to do, Niall, is look forward into the future.

OK, and if you look at the history of any economy in the world, particularly the Irish economy.

OK, we have periods of boom and we have periods of considerable downturns.

All right.

And one of the great difficulties historically in Ireland is because of the way the governments have spent their money during the boom, OK, where they've looked after every interest imaginable.

When bad things happen, the government has not been able to step in to look after vulnerable people, OK, and to use the fiscal firepower to do the sort of things.