Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick East, Fine Gael)

I do not think the Minister has fully addressed the questions about the pension levy. Does the Minister agree it is unfair that people not liable for income tax will get no tax relief when the pension levy is imposed? Does he agree it is unfair that people within the public sector on lower income levels who will probably get no use of their State contributory old age pension should be required to pay the pension levy? Will he take another look at the scheme in order to make it fairer? Looking at it objectively, the scheme appears to be unfair. Will the Minister give a breakdown of the amount produced by the levy in the various income categories, that is for those on less than €30,000, those between €30,000 and €50,000, those between €50,000 to €70,000, those on from €70,000 to €100,000, and upwards, so that we have some indication of where he is coming from with regard to the levy?

The Minister has spoken about taking €8 billion from the National Pensions Reserve Fund to put into the banks, but there has been no analysis or explanation from him as to the justification for this. We cannot get funding for the Limerick regeneration project. Will the Minister consider using money from the National Pensions Reserve Fund for that project, which would provide employment and much needed housing in the area?

This morning, Ryanair announced that 100 jobs were to go in Shannon and up to 700 jobs would be lost indirectly, because of the imposition of the punitive €10 tax on air travel, a tax that only brought in €95 million for this year.

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