Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Compositional changes should not be seen from quarter to quarter, as opposed to from year to year because there has not been a dramatic increase in employment with people coming in on the first metric in terms of the pay scale. The average industrial wage reduced by just over €30 quarter on quarter, which I imagine is not the result of a large number of people being employed over that three-month period. The trend up until now was a gradual increase in the average wage and there has been an increase in employment over a sustained period, thankfully. There seems to be a correlation between what the CSO is identifying as a reduction in average incomes and the tax receipts. Is there something going in the economy that has not been subject of much debate such as wages being reduced? I am not sure what is happening.