Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy put the question to me so I will respond. I do not accept that. I responded in the Dáil debate. I will meet the vigour of the terms used to describe me. If colleagues or opponents want to describe me in that way, it is their call. I have never used personal terms to describe anybody in a debate as much as I disagree with many around here. In my years of debating, I have never used language that applies to any Member personally and I never will. It is a fact that the language that is now used to describe policy stances I take by the far left and by the Deputy and some of his colleagues, although I stand to be corrected, has changed. When it changes, I respond as I did in the Dáil in the debate that evening, which I do all the time. The Deputy cannot have it both ways. I said earlier I will not allow people to have their cake and eat it when it comes to Government expenditure. When I have to take a course of action because it is the view of the Oireachtas, I will not take it later in the year when people start criticising me for the consequences of the decision. The Deputy can expect me to point it out. He can expect me to point out the role of political parties in generating that set of consequences.

Equally, when terms are used to describe choices that I am making I will respond. The Deputy cannot have his cake and eat it on that matter. What I said at the McGill Summer School earlier in the week is no different to what I said in the Dáil every week and what I say in public debate. I have never played the person, but I have played the argument and I will continue to do that.

On the Deputy's views on fiscal resources and the issues of wealth, again we take legitimately different views on these matters. I respect and acknowledge that. I feel that an indication that we are being progressive in how we deal with these matters is the fact that study after study, including an OECD study, will point to the fact that our country has one of the most progressive tax codes of any country in the world. That is not just the choice of this Government or the last Government. It is the choice of successive Governments made up of the parties here. We have a progressive tax code. If one looks at the EUROSTAT data, the Gini coefficient, the measurement of inequality that the Deputy will be familiar with, the most recent data from 2015 shows that Ireland's Gini coefficient is very close to the unweighted average of the EU 15 and is in the middle third of EU 15 countries. It is the same story across the ten year average. If one looks at what has happened from the mid-1990s until now, that performance is unchanged. The Deputy talked about the change in corporate profits, which I acknowledged. Why then will he not acknowledge that corporation tax receipts over the last number of years have also increased significantly as well?