Professor Alan Barrett:

I have no problem with that argument. I would come at it from two angles. One is inequality at a point in time and the extent to which in a very unequal society there is support for the institutions of the State and the way the whole thing hangs together. There is that dimension. To return to our earlier discussion of child care, social exclusion, poverty and those things exclude a group of very bright and able people from full participation in the economy. This was put most starkly in a comment on South Africa that one of its great tragedies is that if an entire population is kept down, an Einstein or Beethoven might be lost. That is probably an excessive example. If there is a society where a particularly large group of people is excluded, the dynamism of that group will be lost.

In those two respects, I agree that inequality is damaging to society. It is becoming an increasing feature of most OECD societies, not just in Ireland. There is no disagreement between us on that point.