Ms Patricia King:

We have consistently set out in pre-budget submissions and other places our view of a fair taxation system. The OECD, the IMF, EUROSTAT and others say Ireland is not a high-tax or a high-spend economy. When one does a comparison with other European countries, one finds in the pattern that Ireland has a very poor social wage system. Across the EU, be it the EU-15 or wider, the employer social contribution - PRSI - is much higher than it is here. When discussing competitiveness, the cost of wage and labour costs, much inaccurate information comes out about the employer social contribution. The fact of the matter is that one of the key features of the Irish labour market and our taxation system - if one calls it that - is this low social contribution on the employer side. We have made it explicit in our submissions that this has to change.