Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)

I will leave our discussion of health aspects until later because there is a Government amendment on the issue. Therefore, I will not try to explain to Deputy Mansergh how an insurance-based health scheme does not have to be a free for all promoting just for profit medicine. However, we can revert to that topic.

I have no problem with the principle of establishing a commission. We have much expertise on the Select Committee on Finance and the Public Service, of which Deputy Mansergh is the eminent Vice Chairman, which could examine tax policy. However, no vehicle is provided by the Government to debate it. The Minister does not introduce, as is the case with the Estimates, an annual statement of tax policy indicating how much various concessions cost, what they are worth and how they perform. In that way, we could have a serious debate about the direction our tax code should take.

We do not have the opportunity to look seriously at how we treat different families. Many couples are not married but if one partner stays at home, he or she is treated deplorably. The one breadwinner is treated like a single person, even though he or she may have children and an adult dependant. Similarly, it is crazy that if a married couple separate, they suddenly have four tax credits, whereas if they had stayed together, they would have two. There are big anomalies in the way we treat different people and the Dáil needs to move forward on the matter.

We would not always need to have a commission to tell us what we should do if the Minister and his colleagues provided an arena for serious debate on taxation policy, including the dilemma of what to do about equity in pensions. We do not need the social partners or the Commission on Taxation to tell us it is unfair that 80% to 90% of tax relief on pensions goes to 20% of the population. We do not need to be told this by some gurus, from wherever they come, although I am sure they are worthy individuals. We should have some self-confidence as elected representatives with a mandate. The Minister should facilitate a more open debate on taxation matters. The Select Committee on Finance and the Public Service could do this because its membership is drawn from parties with various perspectives. It is a good committee which could make a significant contribution in this regard.

There are serious issues about the way in which we treat children. Public policy towards them is a vital issue. As this becomes a greyer society, we will depend on a more narrowly based workforce to support us, yet we have a niggardly approach to helping parents to bring up children. The Government has taken a particularly narrow view of the approach to child policy but that is a debate for another day.

We have the competence in this House to develop policy in some of these areas if only the Government had the confidence to allow elected representatives to play a more important role. I have laboured on committees, as have Deputies Mansergh, Burton and others. I have produced rapporteurs' reports on interesting reforms that we need to undertake, yet Departments do not pay a blind bit of attention to what Oireachtas committees state. Until this changes, we will still ask consultants and committees to tell us what we should do, whereas we should have the self-confidence to deal with such political issues. I am not saying the Minister does not take on certain issues — he has taken good decisions in some areas, on which I compliment him. However, there is expertise all around us if we had the confidence to avail of it.

I have no problem with the principle of a commission and support Deputy Burton's amendment which outlines matters that need to be seriously examined. Although we are asking the Commission on Taxation to look at the balance between income, spending and capital taxes, it is remarkable that the Minister has prominently omitted his own commitments from the terms of reference to cut PRSI and the top rate of income tax. They looked to be core statements of the Government's strategy on the balance between income, capital and spending taxes, yet they have been omitted from the terms of reference. Whether they are being air-brushed out, I do not think the revenue will be there in the next few years to honour some of the commitments made, which will probably colour the situation. Commissions are grand but let us have confidence in ourselves too.

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