Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

Deputy Martin was not very full in his contribution. In his remarks about what the Minister for Finance said, the Deputy conveniently forgot to say that in the same sentence the Minister also referred to what is stated very clearly in the programme for Government, namely, that it is the intention of the Government to implement the programme.

The Deputy's Government committed via the memorandum of understanding, MOU, to an extra €215 million in income tax for each of the coming three years. This must be renegotiated with the troika by the Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform in the same way as a number of other matters have already been renegotiated to the advantage of taxpayers and the people in general.

This is the programme for Government. The Minister for Finance referred Deputy Martin to the programme for Government in the contribution to which the latter alluded. It is our intention to implement the programme in full. From that point of view and in the context of income tax, this matter must be renegotiated with the troika as a result of the commitment to come up with €250 million for each of the next three years. The Minister for Social Protection has, on a number of occasions, referred to the Government's interest in keeping headline rates for social welfare intact. She has also made it perfectly clear that in cases where recipients of social welfare payments who refuse adequate and appropriate offers of retraining, upskilling or employment, their rates of payment can be reduced. The latter has already occurred and everyone who is unfortunate enough to be unemployed is aware of the position in this regard.

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