Dr. Tom McDonnell:

I thank the Deputy for the questions. I would not disagree with regard to greening the VAT rules. In terms of bars to employment, Ms Ahern-Flynn has already mentioned the labour shortages associated with childcare and housing and we certainly see that, particularly in respect of housing, but childcare has been an ongoing thing for at least a decade. It is always the first thing cited and it is overwhelmingly cited as the reason. The sheer cost of childcare is pushing many people out of the labour force or, in many cases, forcing them into part-time or into sectors that may not be in accord with what their skill set actually is. That means we have a major overqualification issue in some cases, where people are just working in the wrong sectors or are doing the wrong jobs, which means their potential is being wasted, which is obviously a loss for the economy as well. We see those as being significant issues.

Obviously, we can bring in extra cohorts through more flexible working from home arrangements, flexible hours and all of those things.

I know those are difficult knots. Such solutions are not always appropriate for every type of sector. It is, however, something on which the public sector could lead. We can also make it more viable for people to work beyond the age of 66 if they want to and where they have viable skill sets to do so. That would be an option in non-manual jobs, in particular. We would see those as the main options when addressing labour shortages.

As I have mentioned, childcare and housing are examples of difficulties in this regard that are often cited. There is also the issue of digital literacy. Ireland performs badly in that respect. There is an issue there. We see providing people with flexible skills that allow them to move into all sorts of different sectors as a fundamental part of the inevitable just transition that will take place the economy changes significantly in the coming 20 years. Those are the priorities.