Joanna Tuffy (Dublin Mid West, Labour)
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There was an issue about the National Women's Council. We have perhaps the highest level of child benefit payments in the world and certainly within the European Union. The argument is that we do not have the services that obtain in other member states such as free GP care or extensive child care. One cannot increase the services and leave the payments at the same level given that there is not a great deal of money out there. If we introduced free GP and after-school care, free books and other services, the logic would be to cut child benefit payments in tandem.

One of the issues about universality is that somebody earning €100,000 who has no children pays the same tax as someone on the same salary with four children. Children's allowance was introduced to recognise the child as a unique individual with his or her own needs. It was recognised initially in the tax system but is not now due to the issue of whether people are in the tax net and so on. I am in favour of people who earn over €100,000 receiving child benefit but I would like people on incomes of that level to pay more tax whether they have children or not.

When Ms Rita Mangan was here, she made the opposite argument on FIS to the one Ms Camille Loftus is making. She said reforms are to deal with the issues and to avoid disincentives to leave social welfare for work. There are problems with FIS, which many people, including the self-employed and those who work more than 19 hours a week, do not receive. Our FIS system is problematic as it stands. Do the witnesses have any feedback on that?