Mr. Liam Berney:

The question on the VAT rate referred to ending a subsidy, and that is what it is. There is no evidence to suggest there would be job losses in the sector. Employment in the sector has increased and will continue to increase significantly, though there is a Brexit risk associated with currency fluctuations. I do not look at the currency markets every day but there has been a slight improvement in the position of sterling recently. We can see no justification whatsoever for continuing the subsidy as it is simply profit-taking.

There was a question on earnings in child care. The €12 which I referenced is the average based on a survey we did and which I can supply to the Deputy. The Deputy is correct that there is an appallingly low level of income in that sector and the trade unions are doing their best to provide the benefits of collective bargaining to workers in the sector. We will continue to do that and through those efforts we can, hopefully, make a difference.

The Deputy is also correct about young people struggling to get onto the property ladder through access to finance and our members talk to us all the time about the issue. I am not sure what the answer is and there is no silver bullet for the problem but, in the past, local authorities provided housing finance to young people and couples who could not get mortgages through the private sector, and maybe we could look at that again. It is all about resources and in the past hour or so we have identified measures which would probably entail spending all the country's income. Unfortunately, we do not have it. We have to prioritise so that we can, in the small fiscal space we have, make a difference. As Dr. McDonnell said, however, there are major things on which we need to make a start, such as child care and the infrastructural deficit. I agree that parental leave should be shared and it should be for a family to decide how to use it, rather than it be given to one parent over the other.