Ms Helen Lowry:

I discussed this with Pablo Rojas Coppari who is our research officer. We have decided on a more conservative estimate because we do not wish it to seem that we have inflated the figures more than they are proportionately. It is important to show that this will cost money because any change costs money, but it may be that we cannot afford not to do it. Not only does it not cost a huge amount but it can bring in a significant amount of money.

A large number of people are outside the formal economy. We took the figure of 23,000 as a median and we applied the minium wage even though some undocumented people in Ireland are high income earners while many are not. Our current study calculated on the basis of people who were not paying tax. If people were to be brought into a scheme, into the formal economy, they will start paying tax. That is how we arrived at the figure of €7.5 million. We were looking at an administrative fee or fine of €500 for people to pay, similar to what is proposed in the United States. When this is multiplied by 23,000 people, the sum is €5 million.

This does not take into consideration the fact that if people enter a regularisation scheme and they are given a temporary residence while that scheme is administered, they will probably go home. This is what happened in Jayson's case. That will require payment for a visa. The cost of a visa paid once a year by half of the 23,000 people could easily generate €2.3 million. The figure of €5 million is conservative. People must also pay an annual fee to GNIB over five years in order to keep their GNIB card in order and this amounts to €300 a year at the moment. There are additional figures but we wanted to show that while there may be cost implications, the economic benefits are far greater. It is both an economic and a moral imperative. Ireland is losing out on revenue and money is being wasted. We are benefiting to some extent from people's labour but we are missing out on the revenue generated by their tax contribution.