Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Whatever we do has to be financially sustainable over the long term. It is just far too early to be venturing anything on that front just yet. This is not the same as Covid-19, as the Deputy has acknowledged. Therefore, our response has to be one that is sustainable, but also we must have some sense of where this is going to settle, if indeed it settles at all. I believe it will in time and we will be in a better position to evaluate what the optimal response will be. If it does not settle and this tariff war continues, that will have implications on everything, including the public finances. We have to be careful in terms of how we proceed so that anything we do is financially and economically sustainable into the future. We need resources to diversify markets. We need resources to invest more in innovation and research. There are things we can do. Investing in infrastructure, for example, is key, and so on.

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