Ms Camille Loftus:

It is very much the type of thing the McKinsey report points to. The name of the computer modelling system in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform escapes me but it is exactly the type of thing it can do. It can assess the immediate first round micro impact for women of reducing the effective tax rate by 2% but it can also project forward and take account of the dynamic effects as the policy filters out and changes patterns of behaviour, etc. We will then be in a position to say that not only will it contribute to greater gender equality, but it will also increase the size of our fiscal space. These are mutually reinforcing objectives. It is very important for this committee to get a really good equality statement because it is very difficult for the committee to have complete gender oversight on all areas, such as transport, communications, social protection, etc. The committee needs some lens that will allow it to ask the Departments all the right questions. The equality statement will allow the committee to determine the first round effects, the second round effects and the bigger picture to enable it to make a recommendation.