Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I would say to the Minister on that point that the evidence shows otherwise. I would recommend that he develops courage around this. His two Fianna Fáil predecessors as Ministers for Finance agreed with me. They eventually commissioned a report on the cost of tax breaks. It took a little while longer to get that published but people were astonished at what it showed. This committee and the Minister and his officials could do a great deal of good work by agreeing as an output from this committee, with the support of all parties, that we have on an annual basis not only the tax strategy material because that is not directed to this particular objective, but a report on tax evasion and tax avoidance on an annual basis because, as the Minister said, it is a game and it is gamed all the time.

I can bring to the Minister, and I will do so, information on all sorts of areas which are being badly hit now, including hospices in Ireland, and I am sure every one of my colleagues could bring him information on other areas. If he does not play catch-up in terms of generating sufficient tax revenue, we will not be able to address these particular issues. Those tax revenues that are avoided are often deeply unfair. The minimum effective tax rate has transformed the take from income tax because it applies now - his officials or the Revenue Commissioners can confirm this - across the income tax front.