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

This is my final point on the amendment. I appreciate what the Minister of State has said. I have said to the Minister for Finance in the past that one has to take risks in finance Bills to create jobs as some things will not work. I put it to the Minister of State that when this measure was announced three years ago the expectation was that 100 people would avail of it. From the last figures available, some 36 have availed it, which is only a third of the number. It was expected that 50 jobs would be created for every individual who availed of it, so the original target was 5,000 jobs, but the number created was 25 jobs. There comes a time when one must decide whether to enhance it and allow for the super-wealthy to be able to avail of it, as €500,000 was not good enough, or does one say that the stated objective of this tax relief is not correct?

There is an issue in terms of the direction the Government is setting out, where it allows the highest earners in society to have tax written off their tax bill, while at the same time taxes are increasing for those who are struggling in the form of the word beginning with the letter "w", which the Chairman does like to use - the uisce charges - and the other charges, such as prescription charges. There is an issue in terms of the moral compass of this Government on taxation, when the stated objective of 5,000 jobs has fallen flat on its face.