Mr. John McCarthy:

I will perhaps say a few words about competitiveness but not about the carbon tax, or whatever. Issues like competitiveness are multifaceted and depend upon so many things. From a macro perspective, what we or Government are doing is trying to remain attractive for businesses to be able to make a profit, etc., and for investment to locate in Ireland. That comes back to the €12 billion or €13 billion per annum being spent on the national development plan, on continuing to invest in skills, etc., and on ensuring our corporation tax, as part of base erosion and profit shifting, BEPS, developments and all of those sorts of international changes still mean Ireland is an attractive place to do business. Ultimately, we want to boost productivity. Boosting productivity is how one can remain competitive while boosting wages. If one thinks of the most productive countries in the world, it is not surprising that they are the Swedens, Norways and the Switzerlands of the world. They are very competitive while also having high wages. Boosting productivity is absolutely key and one does that by investing in physical infrastructure, in human capital, etc., and I believe that is what the Government is doing.