Dr. Seán Healy:

We have very strong views on that. We had a conference last Tuesday in Croke Park on the very issues of universality and access to money. We went on at some length about the fact that work is more than a paid job. This needs to be recognised but it is not at the moment because care work is not paid for. All sorts of caring tasks are done in society that are just taken as a given. They are done by families and within families. Since they are not paid for, they are not recognised as paid work.

Our view is that all these kinds of things need to move towards universality. Therefore, one needs a basic income put into place so every child and every man and woman, including older persons, will have access to a basic income automatically every week and every year of their lives.

That is always there, that type of universality. Then, one builds on top of it the fact that every adult has the right to meaningful work. However, that means people who are unemployed have a right to meaningful work as well. There is more to meaningful work than a paid job. We need to think in those terms. We are thinking about shaping up society and the economy for the changes that are coming. The changes in digitalisation and technology that are coming down the line are going to lead to major job losses in some sectors. We need to recognise that even in that world, if we cannot replace the jobs with other paid employment, people still have a right to work. As such, we need to structure our society for that purpose. That is what we are trying to do.