Rose Conway Walsh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am sorry about that.

Obviously, a lot of work has gone into this and, as Deputy MacSharry stated, it has worked in other countries. The beauty of child benefit is that it reaches all children on the basis of equality. I am not sure that one can say that Deputy MacSharry's proposal would treat children the same, that one can do that the same in the welfare system as in the tax system. If we look at table C which shows the impact on a family earning €70,000, they would have an extra €5,000 after this charge. I would not call that a progressive change. When we look at the percentages, the minimum wage workers could earn 26% extra and they stand to gain the €5,000. Would that be right, in the case of the person on €70,000 and the person on the much lower wage?