Dr. Claire Keane:

As Dr. Barrett said, it is not for us to say what should or should not be done. Putting it in context, however, it really hit home last week when the ESRI and Trinity published work on child poverty. There was an estimate of close to €800 million to put in a second tier of means-tested child benefit support. That is pretty much roughly equal to the VAT reduction. It is a matter of priorities. As the Deputy said, it is very hard to bring in more taxes or increase taxes. As a result, perhaps putting in a tax cut when there is not strong support to show there is a positive employment impact of doing that might not be the most sensible thing to do if you really want to get serious about child poverty.