Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I ask the question in a serious way. Mr. O'Brien says a little about it in his submission but I would like to know a little more. What does he think the scope of that initiative might be?

I welcome the thrust of the ICTU submission. It is not even a mile away from the thinking of Sinn Féin. It is unfair to talk about spending €9 billion in total in investment in jobs and strategy. It is investment and not spending, and is to be welcomed. It also is notable there seems to be almost complete consensus on the good sense of retrofitting and the necessity of doing it, both for job generation and as an environmental policy. There is something in that.

Can Mr. Sweeney and Mr. Geraghty talk about two things that interest me? The first is the proposal to levy a wealth tax at 1% on wealth above €2 million. I am also interested in the ICTU position on universal payments, such as child benefit, state pensions and ancillary payments to older citizens, such as free travel. Could members have a view on that?

Could Mr. O'Connell give a view on the balance that needs to be struck between tax raising measures and cutbacks?