Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

In other words, it is performance, results-based pay. I will also put this question to the Governor. Something plaguing Europe's democratic institutions, which is, ultimately, a risk for the Central Bank and the European Central Bank system, is populism, which is partly driven by insecurity, precarious employment and the fact that some people are doing awfully well in a global financial system, just as Mr. Sibley has described, while others are not. They do not see an argument as to why people such as bankers should earn extraordinary amounts and why there should be a return to the bonus-type culture that was distorting, particularly in cases such as Lehman Brothers. We are all familiar with it from television and films. I will direct this question to the incoming chief economist. Is there a case for ordinary workers in the public and private sectors receiving pay increases in a structured and orderly way while being cautious about people at the highest echelons going back to the culture that, in many ways, drove the bank crash? Effectively, bankers were masters of the universe. That was their title. We all know there were Lehman brothers but there were no Lehman sisters. Thankfully, there are many more sisters in banking now.

I do not know whether the Central Bank follows the price of development land in Dublin or the deals that are being done at present. The increases in values are truly extraordinary. It is very difficult for people who may now be renters for all of their lives because there is no affordable property.

Do the ECB and the Central Bank have a view on this? This is a critical issue and I agree that there is a permanent disruptive risk relating to Brexit, but deepening examples of inequality are an equally disruptive risk for democracy. How will Professor Lane approach these issues?