Professor John McHale:

I might put it a little differently in that we came out of the crisis, as we came out of previous crises, and made significant changes that had the potential to make us safer. A great deal was done on the banking side, with a new system of banking supervision and regulation, and a great deal was done on the fiscal side, including a great deal at national level. I point again to this committee and the council as examples of that having regard to the Fiscal Responsibility Act. We have put this framework in place, which also has complementary European elements, and if we are serious about it, then it has the potential to make us safer - albeit there are no guarantees. Certainly, it will allow the debt to come down in a phased way and prevent us from making the mistakes of the past because if one really follows these rules, it is very difficult to use windfalls of tax revenue to fund permanent increases in spending. One really has to wait for that spending to be based on the underlying growth of the economy. While we have a framework that can keep us safe - and we are not saying disaster is imminent - the signs are that we are not taking the matter all that seriously. That point has come up a few times.