Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

As I said, the Minister committed to delivering on this commitment of the Government two years ago. It is right and appropriate that the self-employed be treated fairly and equally with PAYE workers. I will be pressing the amendment. The Minister stated the change would give an increased advantage to the self-employed over PAYE workers. When we come to subsequent sections we will deal with issues where a real advantage was given. The cost of the proposed change would be €40 million, but the special assignee relief programme, SARP, costs far more than that sum. The additional advantage under the SARP, as a result of the Minister's decision to extend it, is not an extra €150 as it would be under the amendment but €123,000 for at least 12 individuals with earnings above €1 million, eight of whom have earnings above €3 million. If we are talking about a disproportionate advantage from the budget, we know where the Minister's priorities lie. This is a commitment that was given and it should have been delivered on. I am pressing the amendment.