Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)

The Government's tax cuts between 1997 and 2002 saw only 5% of budget tax cut benefits going to the bottom 20% of earners. That is a fact. We are living with the legacy of the failure on the part of the Minister's predecessor to address properly the needs of the low paid and the least well-off in our society. All that the Minister can hope to do with what he has presented in his first budget is commence a process of catch up. Despite Mr. McCreevy's continual rejection of the charge, he deepened the chasm between the haves and the have nots. While the Minister refers to improved taxation figures, the reality for ordinary people is that stealth taxes — I know the Minister is not fond of that term — impact on their living conditions.

What are we looking at? We are looking at ever-spiralling refuse charges. Some of these are not directly under the Minister's charge but they are a product of Government decisions over these years. Refuse charges continue to increase at an inordinate rate, causing huge problems for many people and for society as a whole in terms of illegal waste disposal, which I deplore.

There are measures that come under the control of the Minister and his associates, such as the threshold for the drugs payment scheme has increased twice in 18 months from €70 to €85. The Minister may think that is not much, but that €15 increase makes a critical difference for people in terms of access to medication. There are increased overnight in-hospital charges and accident and emergency visitation fees. These all impact on the standard of living and spending power of ordinary people and those affected most are the least well-off. There is now paid parking in almost every town, something that did not exist in the greater part of rural Ireland some years ago.

The issue is not only what the Minister has done but what he has not done in terms of failure to address the spiralling cost of housing. He and his colleagues oppose grappling with that matter, but it has an enormous effect on ordinary families.

While inflation is relatively low, measures can be taken to control it better, and make no mistake, it has a direct impact. These amendments seek to factor that into all the different areas of taxation assessment.

There were excise and other increases in recent years. I acknowledge the Minister did not increase excise in his first budget and I congratulate him on that. I hope he maintains that stance. The increases that were introduced have made a huge difference and have eroded, like it or not, and I do not like it, the gains the Minister is so proud to laud.

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