Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

What Deputy Mansergh has said is the clearest evidence of the reason individualisation and its social consequences should be examined in detail. Nobody suggested tax policy was easy. It is always about balancing competing interests. Unfortunately, the commission established by the Tánaiste is very similar to the Cheney commission on the environment in America which was loaded down with oil men and other lobbies with a vested interest. I do not expect the accountants on the commission to lose a night's sleep about the impact of tax policies on families with more than three children. I would expect a commission on taxation to look at inequity, where some pay no tax and others, even on modest incomes, pay a lot.

Some people who are non-resident but live here may for all we know have deposits in Liechtenstein. When people do not have to pay income tax, their earnings and wealth can accumulate dramatically. It is a very large advantage to be offered by the State. This must and should be weighed by the commission.

I said the Minister's decision to provide tax breaks for private hospice care is sad. This will go against the establishment of the commission and against previous reports that all such tax breaks must be costed and examined. The evidence is that many of them carry dead weight and contribute nothing extra. In this case, we are going to make private patients who need medical services at a stage when they are terminally ill. Many of them may be in severe pain and need palliative care. However, even at a stage when they are terminally ill, the Government wants to distinguish between public and private patients. That is regrettable in a republic.

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