Aindrias Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Dr. Keane and Dr. Doorley for the presentation. I was listening attentively to the previous discussion. I would be interested in getting an understanding of the ESRI's view on whether this would be right across all social welfare payments that would be indexed. Would this move on into other benefits, such as social housing qualifying criteria and so on? Where would the ESRI see a line to be drawn? For example, if somebody qualifies for social housing, would the HAP payment, in turn, need to be indexed? I am trying to get an idea of where the ESRI would see a line there. I do not know if that is possible. Is this all-or-nothing, or is there a partial system whereby one could index some things and not others? Where does taxation fit into this? Would the ESRI also consider indexing taxation bands and thresholds?

Earlier, Dr. Keane mentioned a figure of 10% to 29% of available funding for the last year's budget. What was that figure based on? Was it based on only social welfare increases, or was it based on all those other different benefits? Was taxation included in that as well?