Dr. Tom McDonnell:

-----that it would degenerate into that. I agree with everything Mr. Nugent has said. One of the rationales that the commission had on the self-employed PRSI side was the issue of bogus self-employment. That would help to deal with one of the issues associated with it, by disincentivising it on the workers' side at least.

I agree with the point on the role of public enterprise. Housing is the first port of call here, as well as the extension of public transport. That is also public enterprise, but housing is the main one. About five years ago the Nevin Economic Research Institute, NERI, published a paper advocating effectively for the creation of a housing semi-State, which would be a game changer. Radical action was needed at the time and even before that, back in 2015 and 2016. Time has moved on and things have gotten worse. There is a need for a radical move there. We do have a lack of construction workers and skills in the sector. Whether that involves bringing people in from abroad or training them up, there will be a lag in terms of solving the housing crisis. Perhaps some of the extra tax corporation receipts could be used on a once-off basis to set up a semi-State for that purpose and then it can use its own seed capital to borrow on the markets if need be. Part of its funding could be towards upskilling or reskilling workers to be construction workers over a period as well, and to engage in a large campaign of building cost-rental housing.