Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

I will be brief. The Minister should listen and engage in debate rather than trying to twist arguments the way that he just had. Saying such things as "the country fared far better than the Deputy would have hoped" is schoolboy stuff. Let us have a proper debate about this. As for incomes being protected, the Minister is well aware that the original proposal from the Government about maintaining incomes over the course of the pandemic provided for significantly less than the €350 that public opinion forced it into implementing in the early days of the pandemic. He is also aware of the fact that there is no such thing as a small enterprise in this country that makes €800,000 in a year. He is talking about big businesses and some medium-sized businesses, although the description of medium-sized businesses is inaccurate. It refers to companies that employ several hundred people. I would put forward for serious debate the idea that those companies should pay tax at the same rate on their profits as PAYE workers do on their income. It is a reasonable proposition, which is worthy of further debate. I will not get into all the rabbit holes that the Minister is trying to lead us down but certain points need to be answered. I will press this to a voice vote.