Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Yes, I understand but that is not good enough. I will deal later with an amendment I tabled in regard to the double Irish arrangement which has been ruled out of order. I have written legislation on this which cannot be tabled in the Dáil for constitutional reasons. It does not make sense that in 2014 the hands of the Opposition are being held behind their backs in terms of their not being able to propose amendments for discussion. It is within the Government's gift to propose the constitutional referendum on this issue, which I do not believe would meet with hostile opposition from the public.

In regard to the Minister's suggestion that budget 2015 is not a budget for the wealthy in society, I contest that is. I will deal with that issue as we go through the different sections of the Bill. For example, in the context of SARP it is clear that the Minister thought the cap of €500,000 was too low and that is the reason he has decided to remove it altogether. However, in terms of what is proposed in this section in respect of USC and income tax, the closer an individual is to earning €70,000 the more he or she will benefit. The Minister will argue that the more a person earns the more tax he or she will pay. While that is the approach of Fine Gael and the Labour Party, I would take a different approach and try to give the squeezed middle some benefit but as much as possible at the lowest end so that everyone benefits. The reality is that comparable to an individual on the average industrial wage or below that, people earning €100,000 or €140,000 will receive multiple benefits under this budget. I do not think that is fair.

The Minister stated earlier that those earning €100,000 have obligations and so on. I am sure some of them will be hard-pressed and perhaps over-committed. However, they are not the people who in my view are presenting to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. Therefore, what the Minister should have done is ensure as much as possible of the resources available were used to impact on those at the lowest end and on the squeezed middle. This could have been done by way of increased tax credits and widening of the tax bands. In terms of lowering the rate, which issue will come to later, I believe that is the measure that is least fair because it allows high earners to benefit more.

I have been fair in terms of acknowledging that the Government has been moving in the direction proposed in this amendment, as a result, hopefully, of Sinn Féin keeping the issue on the agenda. We will continue to do so. I intend to press the amendment to exempt those earning below the minimum wage from the USC.