Dr. Aed?n Doris:

I will address the Deputy's final point, as I raised HAP in my submission. This is an issue we encountered when my colleagues and I were working on the living wage report. Although there is a broader point about incentives in general, we were examining what benefits people currently on the minimum wage would lose if their wages were increased to the level of the living wage. The Deputy is right, in that it varies by county, so there are three bands. It also varies by the number of kids someone has. What we found was that, in a random and non-systemic pattern, there were people who would, through the introduction of a living wage, be pushed over the HAP threshold and lose it. The value of losing it would far outweigh the gain of the living wage.