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

The universal social charge was imposed in the context of austerity and it was a very severe additional tax burden imposed on working people. It remains, despite the fact the financial emergency has now passed. We have moved from a situation of virtual economic collapse to one of the fastest-growing economies in Europe and one in which, I repeat, profits have gone through the roof even in the context of a pandemic. We need to seriously look at the fairness and justice in that situation, something that was highlighted even more during the pandemic. Even the Government, as well as members of the Opposition, had to laud the contribution of workers who are often very on very low pay, relative to some of the very high earners in our country. In many ways they were disproportionately affected by the impact of the pandemic, either through the extraordinary work they had to do during it or through the fact they lost income because their sectors were shut down. Again, we know high earners were the least affected. They did okay. The profits of the corporations continue to rise. The Central Bank's quarterly figures, which I always find very useful, show net household wealth continued to go through the roof during that period. Mom and pop, to use Deputy Michael Healy-Rae's example, did not see an increase in what was in their purse. Yet the figures do not lie; there was a massive increase in household net wealth during that period. Who then was getting it?