Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

——but never did. I take issue with a great deal of what the Taoiseach has said. I wish to focus on an issue which the Taoiseach is getting away with in his remarks. Listening to public commentary on it, on radio and elsewhere, the Government has also got away with it — that is, conveying the impression that this is now a historical issue, that it is over and has been dealt with. Nothing could be further from the truth. Let us be clear that all that has been announced is that most of the property-based schemes will be terminated from July 2008 on the other side of the general election. We have heard it all before. Even the former Minister for Finance, Mr. McCreevy, infatuated as he was by some of the high rollers who benefitted from this, announced termination but it never happened. We have now got to the other side of the general election and the impression is being given that some action is being taken.

The Government has conveyed the notion that there will now be — what my colleague, Deputy Burton, argued for over a number of budget speeches — a minimum effective tax rate. That is not clear either, because it is only in the case of a certain number of reliefs that will be scheduled that the extent of relief will be capped.

See this speech in context