Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 21 January 2015

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection

Impact of Social Protection Payments on Income Distribution: Discussion

1:00 pm

Mr. Cormac Staunton:

Social insurance is another area we need to consider. We have one of the lowest rates of social insurance in Europe. Our rate is higher than Denmark's, and Denmark does not really use social insurance but pays everything through the tax system. If one did more with social insurance rather than tax, one could solve some of the issues and bring social insurance into these discussions about tax and USC.