Dr. Miche?l Collins:

I will pick up where Deputy Durkan began. I agree that one of the challenges is that we tend not to discuss these issues. They are uncomfortable to discuss. The opening recommendation of the Commission on Taxation and Welfare is particularly telling. It is that the road we are on, to use the Deputy's phrase, is one where we will simply have to raise additional taxes in the decades to come. Therefore, it is a question of how we do it rather than if we will do it. There is one "if", which is that we could significantly cut public services and welfare, which would be an option, but-----