Martin Mansergh (Fianna Fail)

In reality the point of proposed recommendations in a Seanad debate is simply to allow particular mattters to be discussed. There is no question of the Minister changing his budgetary arithmetic at this stage. I would always have been a supporter of the individualisation process because living in a household of women of different generations, it seemed to me that there was a sharp generational divide in that any woman under the age of 40 who was in the workforce strongly supported it. Once joint income was above a certain level in practice the parties paid the higher marginal rate which acted as a disincentive. I am glad that Senator McDowell and the Labour Party have come around to a progressive——