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

I thank Mr. Martínez Mongay for a very interesting presentation. My comments are not in order of importance but just as they come to me.

On the issue of labour activation and supporting the social benefits derived from it, there is a concern in some circles that the agenda being pushed by the European Commission and OECD discriminates against those who decide to stay at home and raise children. An economist will argue that where someone looks after another person's child, that is good work which is measured, but where someone looks after his or her own child, that is not work as it is not measured and therefore does not count. My preference is to leave it to parents to decide what is best because every family and every circumstance is different. For example, the policy decision to introduce child benefit many years ago achieved this objective because the benefit is paid to all parents for all children. It is a form of basic income. However, in recent years we have discriminated by providing tax breaks and particular subsidies. I would not argue against them, but I fear in that respect if it is done in a way that creates a differential. The American Senator, Elizabeth Warren, has written about the dual income trap. I do not know if Mr. Martínez Mongay has read any of Senator Warren's books. The trap she describes is that in an economy where everybody is working, the price of property increases and there is no flexibility or room to manoeuvre, for example, if one has a child who is sick. Every family has different circumstances. Elizabeth Warren argues that this is socially disadvantageous and the consequences are measurable and specific. Everything I hear from the European Union is driving in that direction. It is all about the economy, economic growth, labour activation and perhaps not having as many migrants, although that final point is an assumption on my part. I express that fear and also that while economists can measure everything, perhaps they cannot measure the real value of quality of life. Every family can achieve quality of life and balance in different ways but for us to discriminate so clearly carries a risk.

I have a second broad question. Ireland is an open trading economy and many of my friends work internationally. Some who have returned from China tell me that the costs of wages in China have gone incredibly high. The price of steel has also increased. One of the reasons we have expensive construction costs is that material costs are all rising because the world economy is growing at full throttle. We have also been printing money. The printing presses in America and in Europe have been rolling for ten years now. At some point, this will surely feed into inflation. What is Mr. Martínez Mongay's assessment? When the Commission makes country assessments or wider assessments, how does it indicate a risk of inflation? I presume inflation brings a risk of higher interest rates which, in turn, would create certain risks for a country such as Ireland with high nominal debt levels. How does the Commission forecast inflation? Does Mr. Martínez Mongay hear the same argument that I hear from friends working in the global economy, namely, that inflationary pressures are becoming real?

My third question-----