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

The Minister made an unfortunate comment when he addressed those earning €70,000 in that he said these are the people who work hardest. It is an implied assumption that those on low incomes whom we are addressing in our amendment are not people who work hard. It is not right for a Minister and, in particular, a Minister for Finance, who is targeting a financial measure at a certain cohort of workers, to suggest that workers in some categories work harder than others.

This debate should concentrate on facts. I ask the Minister to define his meaning of a core payment. The under-25s who relied on social welfare - as the Minister said the hardest hit were those who lost their jobs - had their social welfare payments cut by 50%. Was that a core payment or do social welfare core payments only apply to the over-25s? I ask the Minister to provide a definition.

The Minister said that his provisions will create 15,000 jobs. Has an analysis been undertaken and, if so, can it be provided to this committee as an evidence-based approach or is this a back of the envelope calculation? Will the Minister explain the model used to suggest that the lowering of the rate of income tax from 41% to 40% will result in those 15,000 jobs and will he explain how those calculations were made? I would appreciate that information.