Mr. Paul Sweeney:

To a limit. One cannot subsidise some of the mad borrowers by not taxing them. As I said before, there is no point in the likes of us doing the detail on this because the policymakers, or the implementers, will do what they are going to do.

We have a section on universal payments. There is an intellectual argument against them because of the cost, in particular in tough times. However, the big thing in favour of universal payment is that they bind society together and get the middle class committed to the social welfare system. That works very well in Europe, so we have set out a number of universal payments we think should be retained, including the travel pass and dental and optical benefits, although one pays for dental and optical benefits in one's PRSI.