Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

If I did, I plead guilty. If the former Minister, Niamh Breathnach, was the Minister, perhaps I took part in the decision. Even if I did not agree with the decision, it is fair to say that I was collectively responsible for it. While there may have been some political motive for the decision, it was not socially progressive in terms of what I have done. My decision is socially progressive. It will restore enterprise, reward risk, change the nature of the poverty trap and so on. Whatever people say about my predecessor — some very unfair things have been said; I suppose they will always be said about him — he brought about that sort of change, and if people do not like aspects of it, that is their business. One cannot expect people to be unanimously in favour of decisions. We would have a very boring country if everyone was in favour of everything.

Genuine improvements have taken place. There are more people at work and there is more economic activity. We now have an opportunity to examine these aspects, see where the balance lies and perhaps identify other areas of activity where tax relief schemes might play a role based on the priorities we identify in the community. That has been and will continue to be my approach. It is as transparent and comprehensive as I can make it. It is not correct to say that the bulk of taxpayers will pay tax at the top rate. In the wake of the move to tax credits, it is more correct to talk about income earners than taxpayers. Following budget 2005, 33.2% of earners will pay tax at the higher rate compared with 35.9% if there were no changes in the budget. We would like to do more, which will be a major challenge.

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