Aideen Hayden (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I will make two quick points and maybe we will get a chance to address them later.

A compelling case was made yesterday by Social Justice Ireland and TASC for what is loosely a bad nutrition tax. I put the question of whether the proceeds of such a tax could be ring-fenced, particularly for the provision of food to children in the school system. What would the panel feel about that?

On labour market activation, going back to some of the overall comments, it seems that we need to move outside the box completely. Perhaps what we should be considering is something like a minimum income system that does not deflect from those who are either making a choice to stay at home - for the sake of argument, if they wish to be with their children - or re-entering the work force. In this way, everybody, irrespective of where he or she is, would be guaranteed a basic minimum income. Maybe the panel would comment on that.