Mr. John A. Moran:

I had not heard the idea before, nor was I looking at the VAT rates to see whether they were split. As Ms McCabe said, these things could come with an extra burden in terms of how we do it. I am sure technology can surmount that. We have said throughout the session that the worst way to deal with a crisis is not to have information. The more we can learn from every crisis and issue to improve the level of information that is available for people to analyse, the more likely it is that we will get the right answers to the problems we have. If, as is happening, business is going on line - and Ms McCabe says even domestic consumers are now looking for that facility when they are spending - we should be able to analyse these trends and know they are happening and where they are happening. Going back to what was said earlier about regional balanced development, we should also be able to analyse whether spending from people who are resident outside Dublin, Cork, Limerick or the other big cities is actually happening in their local neighbourhoods or indeed transferring across to different parts of the country, whether it is Kildare Village or wherever else. That is the only way in which we can make the right policy responses to the problems that are developing.