Professor John FitzGerald:

Basically, people on really high incomes in Ireland probably earn it from property, but property was wiped out, as can be seen in the courts and in bankruptcy cases. They were paying more tax than the average, and the average tax rate for people earning above €100,000 has actually gone up, as one would expect.

Senator Moloney asked a question which I will ask Dr. Donal de Buitléir to answer. On the question about future State pensions, that is a serious issue.

It is not a problem for me; I will be dead before the crisis hits. However, the question of how we finance pensions concerns younger people. I have been very critical of policy in the past decade, but I believe one policy that was wise was building up a pension fund. In the longer term, the Government needs to run a continuing surplus, on average, over the cycle to allow a fund to build up so that my grandchildren's pensions will be paid; otherwise, they will have a big problem. It is not an issue for today or tomorrow, but the committee is correct to focus on it. It is a very important issue.

A question was asked about exemplars. If one wants to examine redistribution of income by a state, Ireland is the exemplar, as Dr. de Buitléir highlighted. There is a reason we tend not to think about that. A really important research question, to which I do not have an answer, is why market incomes in Ireland are the most unequal in the OECD area. That is the puzzle. The welfare and taxation systems have to do considerable running to make a really big difference. I do not know whether the members have an answer to the question. It is an important question that deserves a response but I am afraid I cannot answer it.