Dr. Tom McDonnell:

I completely agree on the point about shared leave. Having to take a career break is one of the most important factors in the gender pay gap.

That this is not shared leave is essentially discriminatory and shows a mid-20th century attitude to child care responsibilities.

As has been pointed out, those working in the child care sector, almost all of whom are women, are extremely badly paid. The longer-term solution is to professionalise and systematise and to have the State provide the vast bulk of resources for the sector to ensure it becomes more formalised. The State must deal with child care in the same way that it deals with primary and secondary education, including in terms of budgeting.

On the issue of the research and development tax expenditures versus direct subsidies or funding of higher level institutes to carry out their own research, the OECD examined this issue in the case of Ireland. Among the issues it noted was that public research and development expenditure in Ireland is extremely low, as is research and development expenditure at national level, that is, public and private expenditure combined. It also noted that research and development tax expenditure is very costly and recommended that the direction of fiscal reform in this area be moved towards subsidies. We do not do enough of this in Ireland and we do not provide sufficient support to the fourth level sector in the area of research and development.

The concept of national innovation systems and an entrepreneurial state is all about the triple helix, as it is known, of higher level education, the state and the private sector working together and co-ordinating. Part of this could simply be the State taking equity stakes in high potential startups coming out of universities and research institutes. We spend two thirds of what the top performing countries spend in this area. This will lead to lower levels of productivity growth, a lower quality of life for everyone and less employment growth in the long run.

Another important aspect of this is the regional element because the universities not only in Dublin, but also in Cork, Limerick and Galway, are employment generation and innovation hubs in particular areas. We are obviously aware of the capital plans for the period until 2040. We view research and development as a form of capital. While it is important to keep research and development separate from capital, it achieves the same effects as capital and boosts productivity in the long run. That should be very much part of the plan.

While GDP growth is very high, it is meaningless at the moment. It is an accounting artefact for reasons that are well understood. The concept of modified domestic demand is a little bit better and the rate of growth under this measure has been strong in recent years, although not as strong as GDP growth.

As to whether welfare has been improving, deprivation rates are much higher than they were at the start of the crisis. In 2015, the deprivation rate was 25.5% of households - more than one quarter - and the at-risk of poverty rate stood at 16.9%. Professor John FitzGerald pointed this out.