Dr. Tom McDonnell:

I will speak for half a minute on cost-of-living measures. Obviously, the cost of living at present is an extremely difficult situation people find themselves in. Prices have increased by 20% in recent years and, in my view, they are never going to come down again. What will happen now is that prices will increase marginally from that 20% higher level. That means we do not bring in, at this stage, temporary measures. We either decide if a person's standard of living is high enough or not. Is it adequate? If it is not adequate, we need a permanent increase in whatever that might be, whether a permanent increase in the minimum wage or in the welfare rate. That would imply that they are targeted. They would be targeted at the groups that actually need them rather than being universal.