Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

Will the Taoiseach revisit the circumstances depicted in the excellent "Prime Time" programme earlier this week on taxation and how a coach and four is being driven through the tax code to assist the very wealthy and elite in our society in minimising or avoiding paying any tax when the great majority of people who get up at 6.30 a.m. to go work find themselves heavily taxed when one takes into account the number of stealth taxes and charges the Government has introduced? There is great anger among the public at the dismissive manner in which the Taoiseach dealt with this matter yesterday.

I ask the Taoiseach to return, first, to the question of tax exiles and the measure he introduced to facilitate people being out of this country under the 183 day rule but at the same time enjoying the hospitality of this country while not paying tax here in terms of their personal incomes. The Taoiseach seemed to tell me, or I thought he told me, yesterday until I read the record, that the question of the 183 day rule, the residency requirement, would be included in the review, but when I read the Taoiseach's answer it does not state that. I ask him again this morning if the residency qualification is included in the review. There is the question of whether, in the light of ten years' experience, it ought to be restricted or limited in some fashion. The Minister for Finance said it is not and he is quite satisfied with the way it is operating.

Second, a front page story in The Irish Times this morning is about a named company, Irish Ferries, saving €3 million to which it would otherwise have been liable in tax in 2003.

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