Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

It seems these are significant problems, leading workers to have no choice but to make pay demands. Housing costs are off the charts. Childcare has been identified and the professor pointed out that transport is another area where there has been a consistent rise in costs, which seems to go against any attempt to deal with climate change or congestion. How does Professor Clinch expect those areas to be addressed? Workers have no choice but to make pay demands if they cannot meet those costs. In all those areas, it seems the market is just not capable of reducing those costs. In housing, it is clear the market is not reducing costs and there is no sign it will do so in the near future. I do not see how transport costs will fall if they are left to the market, while I do not see, realistically, how childcare costs will decrease. Does Professor Clinch agree that is the case, and if so, what are we going to do about it? Do we have to invest far higher levels of subsidy in these areas if we are to reduce those costs?