Aideen Hayden (Labour)

The one point I would make about Senator Sean D. Barrett's proposals is that there is no magic bullet. We can have legislation to deal with the issue of fiscal responsibility, particularly matters to do with counter-cyclical ability. We have tried this historically in EU foreign policy, as well as pricing policy, but no matter how many times we tried to balance the market, we have ended up with lakes, mountains and other indicators of excess. We should not fool ourselves into believing that, regardless of what fiscal stability measures we put in place, we are not dealing with an uncertain world and market. We must take into account that we cannot offer the people false promises. There are measures that are necessary and would give greater certainty to those who require certainty in their lives. However, there is no magic bullet. Irrespective of the measures Senator Sean D. Barrett is proposing, we have learned that, in spite of our better efforts, we have not been able to establish exactitude regarding market equilibrium. I hope we will learn more in the future, but we will continue to live with uncertainty. I again thank the Senator for his efforts.