Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

On page 151 of the report Professor Honohan examined what happened to the bottom half of the income distribution because of the guarantee. He says that the guarantee protects the less well-off, not directly by covering their bank deposits, if any, but by underpinning the functioning of the economy to provide employment and generate the tax revenue needed to pay for public services, and relatively little of the guarantee goes to protect the bank deposits of the more prosperous members of society. Is that something he would revise now? We have evidence, certainly in Leinster House, of the misery that the last number of years have brought for low income people, with increased unemployment and emigration, the emergence of a two-tier wage structure, discrimination against young people entering the labour market, social welfare reductions and reduced public services. Is it now the case that the income distribution consequences of the guarantee could be seen to be more regressive than anticipated at the time?