Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent Ireland Party) | Oireachtas source

I have a final question that might be for Dr. Keane. She spoke about lower income families. I am talking about the middle income families where both people in the household are working and in good jobs. They say to me that they are both working and paying their way. They have children to go to college. Their costs are going up and they now see people who are not as well off as they are in terms of wages, but are actually better off when it comes to being subsidised for college places and all the different breaks. They work out what they are paying for and they take their earnings after tax at the end of the week. They are providing for their own house. They are paying for everything but they qualify for nothing. They have no problem working for a person who is less well off than them or in a different situation, but it seems to me now that it is the squeezed middle, as I call them, that are working all the time. When they look at somebody who is earning less, that person is actually getting more than the person who is working. People ask me am they are better off not working because their children will be looked after better and they might qualify for more. If they earn less, they will get more, rather than working to earn more and get less.

When Dr. Keane said that she was going to look at the criteria for lower income earners, should we not be looking at their net income? When we look at them for means testing, should we not look at their outgoings to make sure the person who is working and wants to work to provide for everyone gets a reward to keep them working and they can actually pay for the less well-off?