Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)

There is a cost. If one proposes to reduce PRSI from 4% to 2%, which is a tax on people who pay their taxes and for which they have been paying through the nose for a long time, it will cost money. That will come from the general pool of taxation. That is from where any deficit in the fund must be made up. The taxpayer will pay for a proposal to reduce PRSI from 4% to 2%. I invite the parties opposite to accept that policy because we are talking about a generation of people paying substantial PRSI who now have the opportunity to see the tax on the work they do reduced and spread more evenly because, obviously, the 2% will apply to people on the higher rate, which has not been mentioned until now. More people will pay. As the economy expands, presumably more will come into the fund. It is time we gave back some of the PRSI to hard pressed wage earners. That is what the Government unapologetically proposes to put before the people in the coming general election.

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