Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank both of the witnesses for their presentations and apologise in advance. I have to go to another meeting, so I thank my colleagues for letting me speak first. It has been an excellent presentation in terms of its breadth, the issues it covers and as a counterbalance to some of the other information that we have had. I mean no disrespect to that information.

We seem to have emphasised the issue of labour costs. The witnesses' figures on labour costs suggest a different picture. I see here the figures suggest a total average hourly labour cost of €28.70, as opposed to a figure of €29.00 in the UK, and some €29.50 in the eurozone. Could the witnesses talk about the social insurance employer costs? It was mentioned that there is a differential operating herevis-à-vismost of Europe.