Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I am making the point that if one takes the €12,000 example in 1995-96, which is now €20,000, the reduction in the average rate for PAYE and PRSI is down from 25.8% to 17.3%. To bring it down to brass tacks, it is additional disposable income. There is an additional €3,500 in that person's pocket today if he or she was earning €12,000 then and got an inflationary increase in wages in the past ten years. That additional disposable income will pay for plenty of charges. No matter how many times one parks one's car in Monaghan town or how many bins one puts out every week to make up the €3,500, it would be a full time job to calculate the cost.

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