Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

The Minister is correct that much of this is philosophical. There are fundamental differences and there is probably not much point on dwelling on them. Suffice it to say that the notional progressivity of the Minister's budget, as presented in terms of percentages, masks the fact that both increases and decreases in percentages favour higher earners and disadvantage lower earners disproportionately. The concept of notional progressivity, as set out by the Minister with his percentages, fails to deal with the sense of injustice that people feel. They do not look at graphs and say they are progressive based on equal proportions for different earners. They note the fact that they cannot pay their bills while somebody who earns five times more than them is getting four or five times more back from the Government. In such circumstances, they cannot help but feel this is unfair and wrong, and that it is a misdirected priority of the Government.

The left has been very consistent on this. It opposed partnership pay increases during the good times because they were percentage based. A reason some of us on the left opposed social partnership was that we believed social partnership pay increases benefited higher earners disproportionately and that pay increases should have been considered more in terms of absolute figures.

While the Minister might not agree with our more broad philosophical position, he should consider the feelings that have been driving all the people onto the streets in recent weeks. They were being driven onto the streets by the fact that a huge proportion of people cannot pay their bills. What the Minister has given them back does not cover what they have lost elsewhere through water charges, property tax, increases in utility bills, public service obligation charge increases, etc. They are in as bad a position as they used to be, or perhaps worse, while those who are able to manage are getting multiples back from the Minister. He should acknowledge that this is a problem.