Mr. Padraig Cribben:

Your point is well made, Chairman. If one goes back five or six years ago, we had a very narrow base where we were dependent on income tax and spending tax, be it VAT or stamp duty. In the meantime, the base has been significantly widened. It has been widened through the property tax, water tax and even on the commercial side in recent years water charges were introduced which did not exist in every county six or seven years ago. One now has water tax in and water tax out. That base has been considerably widened. The key is in looking at each individual tax and seeing its net effect rather than the headline grabbing effect it might have. The reduction in the VAT rate from 13%% to 9% within a specific area has been able to deliver jobs, which is good for the economy and for people. It has been able to help towards the deliverance of a better tourism product which, again, is good for jobs and the Exchequer. It is more a case of where they are pitched rather than if they are pitched.

To return to a question raised by Deputy McDonald earlier on equity, it is not just about equity in the taxes, which is very important, but it is the effect it has on jobs, which has a roll-on effect on equity as well. It must be seen in the round rather than just from a narrow base.