Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour)
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If Ms McVeigh does not wish to respond to the next question that is fine but I am interested in learning from her experience. High frequency traders sometimes carry out large trades over a particular day which have a massive impact on the European economy. Because of the increase they could be paying up to 50% tax in the case of FTT because sometimes they would turn over their entire book in a single day. That would be a positive effect in that the likelihood of a run on the market would decrease. Pension funds pay tax at 0.5% and people hold bonds and shares for up to two years. I refer to people who have taken a long-term investment in the market. They need a stable, sustainable market rather than HFTs which trade massive amounts of money in a day and sometimes create panic within the market, which has a knock-on effect on unemployment and sustainability. Therefore there would be a positive effect of an FTT. Has Ms McVeigh taken into account the high frequency trade and the positive elements associated with that?