Mr. Ciar?n Nugent:

In terms of adequacy, my only comment is about how we measure it and the importance of the cost of living. We are in a highly inflationary environment at the moment. If we are measuring adequacy and the real median wage is falling, then from one year to the next a person's living standards might actually fall. At the same time, we are still saying that they are not in poverty and they have an adequate wage. It is a technical issue. With the references to the term "adequacy" and 60% of the median wage, the language in the report is kind of mix and match. They are actually two different things, if we are talking about a minimum essential standard of living. It is a technical point about how we look at that going forward. Benchmarking it to a median income when median incomes are falling is not going to do anything in the context of poverty. The State is going to have to step in afterwards in any event if that is the approach we take.