Mr. Neil McDonnell:

I have literally only had one occasion to do that, but that is how it was reported. When that termination was over and I left the room, and I will not say where, with a trade union official, he said to me, "You should have done that a long time ago, Mr. McDonnell." There is a notion that many people think that co-workers should be able to go sick as often as they want, and the people who are most discommoded by that are their colleagues. What we have said, and again, this is very clear in the submission we have made, is that the burden for this should fall on the Social Fund, not on the employee, but what we are saying, and the Deputy is correct when he says this much, is that where Ireland is a significant outlier by comparison with other European countries is on the social contribution made by employees at 4%. It is in excess of 20% for some income earners in France. Yes, our 11.05% contribution is relatively low by comparison with some, but I ask the committee members to bear in mind that the auto-enrolment proposals which are before them - I know they have been pushed out somewhat - refer to about a 6% contribution to auto-enrolment from the employer. That would take the employer's wage tax to 17.05%, so the committee needs to look at these things in the round.

The kind of philosophical point we are again making is that the Members are the legislators, it is in their gift to increase these charges as much as they want, and it should be borne in mind we have the second highest minimum wage in Europe. We also have the second highest cost of living in Europe, and the country with the highest cost of living does not have a minimum wage at all. But we also have the most progressive tax system in the EU and the second most progressive tax system in the OECD. These are-----