Sir, - I wonder if the Minister for Finance calculated the full social cost of using the taxation system to force both spouses in a family to go out to work.
As a retired single person I have been able to observe the tremendous contribution which stay-at-home spouses, both men and women, make to their local communities. Their most obvious contribution, especially in large suburban housing estates and on the outskirts of smaller towns, is to security. Simply by being there they help their elderly and infirm neighbours feel just that little bit safer.
Many of them care not only for their own children but also for the children of relatives and neighbours who go out to work. Others make an enormous contribution as voluntary workers in a wide variety of organisations ranging from caring groups, such as meals on wheels, to environmental and heritage groups. Can we really afford the increased cost of public service pay which replacing these carers and volunteers by additional gardai and social and health service workers would entail? Would it really improve matters if we found ourselves relying entirely on the State in time of need?
Perhaps the Minister might care to look at more creative ways of encouraging spouses to return to the workforce, for example, by encouraging employers to speed up the use of technology to enable more people to work from home. - Yours, etc.,
Maighread Ni Mhurchadha, Na Glasphlasoga, Na Sceiri, Fine Gall.