Professor John McHale:

The Deputy makes a very good point. Although most people have a sense that things are improving, they do not feel things are improving in line with the eye-popping overall growth rates that are being seen. There are some substantive improvements. The unemployment rate, for example, had reached 15% but is now below 9%. That is a very important and tangible gain. Despite the tax cuts, income tax receipts have increased by over 5% year on year. The Deputy mentioned VAT, which has increased by 8.6% year on year. People have more money to spend. I would like to expand on one of the big reasons more people are not feeling it. This relates to those who had jobs throughout the crisis. Wage growth is still quite limited. That is certainly the case in the public sector, but I think it applies across the economy. Perhaps I will put my colleague, Dr. Conefrey, on the spot by asking him to tell us about average wage growth last year.