Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I will be brief. I thank Dr. McDonnell for attending. Regarding the term "human capital", IBEC said something similar when it appeared before us yesterday. It wants more human capital in business. If I pay someone else to raise my children - I must be careful with my words, but I mean child care - that is developing human capital. If I care for the children myself, is that human capital? Is capital just a monetary thing?

I ask this question because a large number of people make this choice and feel that they were forgotten, and their work undervalued, by last year's budget. IBEC seems to believe it is a monetary thing. I am worried that the trade unions seem to believe it as well. That is a strong, powerful combination. In our tax system and everything else that we do, we have incentivised the situation because we want there to be more human capital. Should we not leave the choice as to how that human capital is developed to parents?

I agree with Dr. McDonnell, in that this is some of the most important and valuable work that we are doing, but there is a slight dichotomy. On one hand, Dr. McDonnell is saying that child care is too expensive, which is the case for many people. On the other hand, he is saying that this is the most important work that anyone can do and we should be paying child care workers the same that we pay primary school teachers. If Dr. McDonnell does not have the figures, he can revert to me with them, but what is the average pay of a child care worker and what is the average hourly pay of a primary school teacher? If we are to value this work and increase the pay of child care workers to that of primary school teachers, what would it cost and how would we afford it? I am fully supportive of that idea.

How would Dr. McDonnell have voted in Dublin City Council last night if he had had a call on increasing the property tax? It was a "Yes" or "No" vote, so I would love if he could give me a "Yes" or "No" response.

The ESRI appeared before us and, interestingly, pushed for a switch to a site value tax. Has NERI undertaken any work on the merits of switching property tax away from the current model to a site value model?