Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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We cannot ignore the elephant in the room. Wages are a big issue in that sector. It is not necessarily that the employment is unattractive. At various stages in the recent past it was a very attractive role. People say the money would not pay them. Lowering the bar and widening the pool and changing the rules around what licences are acceptable is a sticking plaster. If we have a long-term problem, we need to ensure those workers are paid decent wages. Nothing else will attract and retain workers beyond that. We can fix everything else but if that is not dealt with, we will have an issue. We should be talking not only for that sector but for all sectors about moving to a living wage, because that is one of the greatest ballasts we could have against any future shocks.

We had the National Competitiveness and Productivity Council before us a number of weeks ago. It referenced the detrimental impact our housing crisis is having across every sector. Let us not get into what created the housing crisis - we know where it came from - however, it is a serious issue now. Do the witnesses know of the potential economic damage being caused by our current housing crisis, and what impact does that have now and in the medium term?