Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Mr. Coffey is saying that we should have a rainy day fund as a countercyclical buffer. He assumes that there is a cycle. Where does he think we are in the cycle? It is ten years since the last downturn. I think we are a lot closer to another downturn than people are projecting. Where does Mr. Coffey think we are in the cycle? Realistically, how much of a buffer can we create given what we know about cycles and their timeframes? Anything we can put together before the next downturn comes will be a drop in the ocean and piddling compared to the potential impact. From where does Mr. Coffey think the downturn he is assuming will happen at some point will originate? We know things about Brexit. It is a known unknown as it were, to use the American hawk's phrase-----