Mr. Sebastian Barnes:

Prudent management of the economy and the public finances is essential in the short term as we go through this cost-of-living crisis, which is a very complex and challenging thing to deal with. The longer term is almost the bigger issue. We now have a fiscal framework that, hopefully and in principle, will anchor things. However, it involves making choices about things. We cannot just have more spending and less tax all of the time. We need to make sure the two things are in balance. It is the combination of climate change and pensions, which are happening at the same time. People often focus on one or the other, but they are actually going to be hitting people at the same time. Those in charge of the public finances and households are going to have to deal with the impact of climate change. People may have to insulate their homes. They may lose their jobs. They may have to do things differently. At the same time, we are going to have to meet these pension costs that are going to increase considerably. That is one of the reasons we are concerned about the lack of implementation around the pensions commission report, particularly in the context of signals in respect of not raising the retirement age. Already, the package proposed by the pensions commission involves quite a substantial increase in taxation. That may be occurring at a time when other increases in taxes may be needed because of climate change, for example. PRSI rates will already have to go up just because there are going to be more people reaching retirement age, even before there is a decision not to raise the State pension age.