Lisa Chambers (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Before Dr. Healy replies, I ask that we take all the questions in one go. I have a meeting to get to that started 20 minutes ago and it is taking a lot of time for people to make a contribution. That is not specifically directed at Deputy Ryan. I just want to get my questions on the record, but I really have to run.

Dr. Healy referred to the need to have an adult conversation. I put it to him that we need to have a conversation in this country about what we are willing to do to have certain services, a basic income and a universal pension. We will have to pay a lot of tax to fund that. We are at loggerheads because we do not want to pay excessive taxes, yet we want all of these fantastic services. It is about having that conversation about how one strikes that balance. Deputy Ryan has asked about how to broaden the tax base. What are Dr. Healy's suggestions for doing that because we will be having a conversation about it? The Chairman has already spoken to Dr. Healy about his suggestion that we collect one of the lowest amounts of tax in Europe. It does not feel like that for most people. I acknowledge that Dr. Healy answered on the PRSI issue, but does he have any comments to make around the tax bands and the ways to broaden the tax base, increase revenues and make things a little bit fairer?

I note Dr. Healy's comments that we are underfunding the education sector. I have an institute of technology in my constituency which is at risk of closing next year. It was put to me very simply that if it were a private company, it would be going into examinership in January. That is how badly off it is. It is not just that institute of technology; it is the entire sector. While the universities are a little better able to weather the storm, institutes of technology are under severe pressure. I would welcome Dr. Healy's thoughts on that given the Cassell's report we had in the past number of months.

To the National Women's Council, I note that I do not need to reiterate what everyone else has said about the pensions issue. It is disgraceful and shocking that women are being so disadvantaged. I welcome the council's research on that which definitely helps to inform us as to how we fix that issue. The bottom line is that it needs to be fixed. The reality is that women were forced out of the workplace through laws we passed and we are now penalising them for it. I want to get some comments from the council on parental leave and how it might address the gender pay gap. Sometimes the gender pay gap is thought to be a matter of two people being paid different rates for the same job. It is actually not that. It is the average incomes of men versus the average incomes of women and women earn less. While there are often situations where one is getting paid less for the same work, it is also that one is in lower paid or part-time employment and all of those things. Access to parental leave might level the playing field a little so that one has access to those higher earning jobs and greater career progression.

Both groups touched in their reports on the situation of under-25s and social welfare rates. I have said before and repeat for the record that it is clear discrimination on the basis of age. We expect those people to pay full taxes in employment, yet we do not offer them the same social protections. I welcome the witnesses' comments on that. It is good to have it on the record.