Dr. Mark Cassidy:

I cannot comment on the policy element. I can comment that there are distributional effects of Covid which are common across countries. Lower income, part-time and younger workers are more negatively affected because of the nature of the crisis. It will be important to take that into consideration in the recovery period, particularly to ensure that temporary changes and inequality are not sustained over time because short-run effects become longer-run effects.

We publish material on wealth. It shows that for Irish households wealth depends upon the housing crisis, far more than anything. Housing remains the dominant form of wealth to a greater extent in Ireland than elsewhere. Certainly, a small number of the population is highly wealthy, but for the vast majority wealth has recovered having fallen dramatically after the last crisis. House prices are the main factor in that. However, I cannot comment on the policy issue.