Dr. Kieran McQuinn:

The bottom line, and it is an important point which the Deputy made at the outset and which has to be borne in mind, is that even with a much lower inflation rate this year, the cost of living is still much higher this year than what it was last year and two years ago. Prices and the cost-of-living pressures generally are much higher across.

On whether other measures are required as the inflationary pressures evolve through the year, it is just a case of seeing how the inflationary trends persist or evolve over a period of time. However, there is no doubt about it that even if you have a reduced pace of inflation this year, the cost-of-living pressures are still considerably higher than they were before.