Hi, hello everyone so the first question is from Ethan McLaughlin and she's asking why we're rolling back on pensions. When we know we can't afford it down the line. I guess we've heard of people had to say on the doorsteps and on the streets and if we get back in one of the first things we'll do is change the law so that people who want to retire at 66 or have to retire 66. We'll still be able to do so and get the full pension so you won't have to wait until 67. We'll also make sure that nobody who 60 - five has to We're not going as far as some of the other parties in terms of rolling back in this reform precisely for the reasons that you say cuz what we have to do has to be fair and affordable, and I'm a little bit worried that some of the parties in this election are offering a bit too much and they're possibly auctioning off the pensions of the young and one thing I don't want to happen is for people in their thirties, forties and fifties to pay PSI into the pension fund all their lives and then find out that when they retire there's independent for. Or the end up with reduced pension and that's why we need to be very careful of political parties promising a little bit too much in this election. Connor McCarthy is asking why am I overstating the importance of the next phase of Brexit? Surely the EU will do all the negotiating not over staging us. the next phase is all about the trade deal with the UK so for farmers or fishermen for our rural economy and for anyone working in export industries about 200000 people this is pretty crucial. It's also going to be really important in terms of getting the revenues and that we need to deal with problems like health and housing investing in those so it is important. the EU won't do all the negotiation. it'll be a little bit similar to the first phase. the negotiations will be led by Michel Barnier and the Commission Task Force but the final decisions will be made by the European Council, which is made up of all of the Prime ministers, including the T-shirt and we lost us at the negotiating guidelines along the way so. Gonna be very similar at the first phase with the exception that those very Irish specific issues such as the border no longer feature. Michael McCarthy is a true that disability has been cooked by 20 million. No. that's not true at the budget for disability services for this year is over two billion euros for the first time so with an increase in fact, but the agency is looking for a one percent efficiency and that's a good practice to look for one percent efficiencies from organizations, but that won't have any impact on front line services. Also Donald is. What our plans are to address pay inequality for teachers not an issue just for teachers. I know it's a big issue of teachers but actually applies to a lot of public servants recruited after 2012 2013 I believe there should be equal pay scales. it's only fair and we've been long a long way long way of the way our about 70 - five percent of the way to doing that in the deal that we have with the unions at the moment and I'd like to go a hundred percent of the way so that Within the next public sector pay deal do on the first things new government has to do is to negotiate a new pay deal cuz the existing one expires at the end of this year. so it has to be done in the next few months and we've actually set aside at two billion in our budget plans for that pay pay deal and just in the feet of a fan of set aside nothing so I don't know they think they're gonna pay hardworking public servants anymore of the next five years. If they haven't accounted for us. we have but there is only so much in the past and really what we need is for the. Unions to come forward and say that this is their number one priority and that they would rather see the new entrance getting pay equality than a bigger pay increases across the board for everyone there's room for both but there's only so much money in the past and I would like to see the unions coming forward and saying that this is their priority and a lucky why do you flat realize the possibility of government of Shin Fein as an elected official? It's your job to work on behalf of the people. Alienated a massive amount of voters and I suppose I put it this way my party Ferndale has got 20 percent of the vote or more in pretty much every election for the last 60 years but just getting 20 percent of the vote, which maybe she will get in this election of the polls are correct. It doesn't give you an automatic entitlement to be in government. When I listen to some people, it sounds like they think it does it doesn't you have to be able to form partnerships with other parties and come to an agreement? And I have a big problem with policies it's not just about the issues of their past. It's about the future the fact that they're soft on crime and that they're high on tax want to impose about four billion euros of extra taxes on business property wealth pensions jobs you name it, and you can't increase taxes by that much without harming the economy. If the economy is harmed, We wanted the money that we need to build new houses and to invest in health care. Connor Glenn wants to know. Can actually afford the tax cuts vinegar is proposing yes we can we recommend will cost about two point eight billion by year five and the economist and Department of Finance estimate that will have about 11 billion allocation to additional spending or tax cuts. So the vast majority is going to infrastructure and to and to and public services rather than a tax cuts, But there is space for tax cuts there Always take these things for granted because as Genevieve Amani points, how can I be so confidence that will have the 11 billion over the next five years? that's what's projected by economists R. In fact, Department of Finance, you can never know a hundred percent for sure actually the projections that we had four or five years ago, turned out to be pessimistic and the economy grew and bounce back faster. in the last four or five years, then people thought so yes, the economy might grow faster in which case we'll have even more money to spend and can cut taxes even more but it might grow slower and. The truth and if that does happen we have a surplus that we can dig into and a rainy day fund but I have to be honest with you. if for some reason the economy faces a major global crisis or major downturn that hasn't been projected for yes. In those circumstances we would would have to reassess our policies on taxes and on public spending and every party would question from vegan. what are you doing about social housing? you currently pay my. 12 K in so what we're doing with social housing is building a lot more socializes. I'm sitting in Clark at the moment here in Bali colleague back in 2014 in Cork. I think only one or two social houses were built. We're now at the stage where in Clark there are over a thousand 200 in various stages of construction and we're seeing new social housing coming on stream all over the country about 6000 under construction on 300 publicly on sites but the problem. That we really have to start things from scratch again that happened been turned off. I couldn't be turned back on right away. so it is taking us a lot longer than we would like to scale up the provision of new social housing but you know Rock to 10000 a year now we want to get up to about 12000 a year that would be 60000 over the next five years, and that means more people in publicly on social housing and fewer people in unhappy another question in from David McSweeney. what's the detail of the tax cuts? okay. so anybody earning under 20000 will be exempt from the USC. At the moment, people running under $14000 we think 20000 is a fair figure cuz that means you could work full time on the minimum wage and not have to pay tax or you could be getting a small occupational occupational pension maybe and not have to pay USC on that but our main tax policy really is aimed at Middle income workers and we think it's really unfair that people are earning you know 30 - 630 - 730 - eight thousand have to pay the highest rate of income tax the 40 percent rate If you get a pay increase an increment promotion do some overtime. you could lose more than half of us an income tax in USC. So we're saying that over the course of five years, we'll make sure that you can earn up to 50000 euros without having to pay the highest rate of income tax and a hundred thousand for two income couple. really the other parties aren't offering much in this space and if they have their way the sad thing is that more and more people will end up having to pay the highest rate of income tax as incomes rise as. They will over the next couple of years. David Maddocks asks the pension change who brought that in how did it come about was a part of the troika deal? Cannot be changed. with whoever gets in is the agreement signed the pension changes actually originally announced. I think it was by Mary Hannah nearly 12 years ago wasn't the deal that the Greens in Phoenix made with the troika but that deal no longer applies because the troika are gone and the program is over but was put in Irish domestic law. by Joan Burton of the Labor Party, I think was about 24. we did support that by the way pretty much every country in the Western world is raising its pension age. it is the right policy in order to protect pensions for the future but obviously we have to respond to what people have said in this election and we are going to respond to that by saying that anyone who reaches the age of 66 if they have to retire if they choose to retire, we'll still get the full state pension. They won't have to wait till 60 - seven Jenny Norman Can you reassure Irish citizens in the UK that our rights will In the face of Brexit, yes, I can as our citizens you stay as European citizens of course, so you'll have the freedom to live travel study work anywhere in the European Union. Unfortunately, British citizens won't have that right anymore after the end of this year. we've done a deal with the UK government around the common travel area to make sure that Irish citizens in the UK are treated as though they were UK citizens on UK citizens in Ireland are treated as though they were Irish. Solar the same access to health care housing welfare pensions as you would if you were a British citizen, the only differences around voting rights push but that's a lesser thing. Luke Corcoran. What are we doing with student accommodation? rent is so expensive in Dublin and it's making third level on sustainable for most not enough quite frankly, Luke something that I'm very concerned about at the moment, particularly for people in rural Ireland to are moving to the cities to go to University Student accommodation being built but it seems to be expensive. It is expensive in fact and seems to be mainly used by international students. Now that is freeing up accommodation for other students. but I think what we really need much more of is on campus accommodation rental basis, and that's what was done in the past should be done again. And if reelected is one of the first things that I'm gonna want to talk to the University President's abuse, there's a lot of land on our campuses at University of Nineties. we should use some. To provide a combination of students at low rents, which then in themselves will help to bring down rents for students off campus too. Sean Logan will be see better road infrastructure in Donegal, possibly a motorway link connecting letter County to dairy at the Dublin. Yes, you will that's called the five and two project recognition to funding it. They got messed up in planning issues in Northern Ireland and then with the problem with the fact that they know executive no ministers to sign off on that but that is not working and Nicholas Allen is in place as the new infrastructure Minister for the North. She's very commissioned the project. We were gonna co-found us between the government of Northern Ireland and the government here in Ireland and get that started over the course of the next government and that's gonna really open up the northwest for development and will help Daryl to come together as a gateway City for the Northwest and very keen as well. something I'm personally interested in doing is developing a new University for the Northwest with campuses both in letter, Kenya and and dairy Shane J. O 'Brien. Why are a party Country doing so well in the polls certain search and hopefully the polls are wrong. We'll find out on February the eighth Art Phil wants to know if we're going to change the income limits for the Susie Grant to account for the increase in rent and the cost of living. yes, we are we're saying in our manifesto that will increase the income limits by five percent or more and try and tie them to wages in the year ahead because when the irony is of Ireland at the moment is that as wages rise and incomes rise. Become fewer people become eligible for things like medical cards and Susie grants, and that's unfair. you know when your income goes up, you shouldn't lose out on entitlement to these things but it's not cheap. Unfortunately so time is up thanks very much for tuning in. I hope you found it interesting. I certainly did and hope to do this again and in a few days time. Thank you.