Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 26 January 2022
Committee on Budgetary Oversight
Indexation of Taxation and Social Protection System: Discussion
Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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Do I have time for one more question? This is very interesting. Obviously, everything that we discuss in the budget oversight committee is extremely interesting. Earlier, Dr. McDonnell stated: "Crucially, wages generally rise faster than prices, meaning that wage indexation will tend to improve living standards for poorer households over the longer term." I would love if he could talk me through this a bit because I am not an expert on it. Price inflation is running at more than 5% at the moment and there is no doubt that wage inflation has been high in terms of the ICT and construction sectors. Just for my own understanding, could Dr. McDonnell talk me through the sectors that have been badly hit by Covid?