Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)

Of all the people I have met in the past week and who have sent e-mails to me and every Member of this House, there is not one who is not willing to play his or her part in sorting out the mess the country is in but they are not willing to be used and abused to turn this country into a two tier society, those who pay and those who do not pay. That is the bottom line in this regard.

I refer to those who are paying. I have an article from the Irish Independent about a mother of six who was jailed for debt. She was thrown into Mountjoy for a debt of less than €1,000 because she could not pay it. That mother of six, struggling to pay a mortgage with her husband, was thrown into Mountjoy with nowhere to hide but those who made billions on the back of this country and the property bubble and whose huge gambling debts are being paid for by the taxpayers and those rich people whose companies are part of the so-called bad debts of the banks can walk away scot free while the people of this country are left to pay.

There has been much talk about delinquent bankers in the press but there has not been enough talk about those people who are responsible for the so-called bad debts in the banks. Many of those people have money which is hidden. They have companies behind which they have hidden and they are getting away scot free.

The banks should be forced to go after all those so-called bad debts. Those people should be named and shamed. The ten people referred to earlier, and about whom the Taoiseach said he did not know, should also be named and shamed because they are as responsible as the Government and the bankers for the children with special needs who are losing their classes and for the young people who will not get a life saving vaccine. Those people are morally responsible and they should not be able to go away and hide.

In fact, the entire golden circle, who stashed their gains where they cannot be seen, should be named and shamed and they should be forced to pay these so-called bad debts. This woman who was sent to Mountjoy had nowhere to hide so why should those responsible for the huge debts to the banks be unidentified and free to go away and enjoy a lavish lifestyle? That is basically the source of the anger among the people.

An attempt is being made to pit public against private sector worker. We must not fall into that trap because this is not about public versus private. The nurse who is struggling to pay a mortgage and the family described by Deputy Shortall are on the same side as the Dell workers in my constituency who are losing their jobs. They are the ones being asked to pay. Thousands of people who are well able to pay are being allowed to get away without doing so. That is basic inequality and that is the two tier society into which we are being asked to buy with this levy.

Many people in the public sector pay towards their pensions — in fact, I believe practically everybody pays towards their pensions. Not everybody has job security. I know many people in the health sector, for example, who are temporary, who are on contracts, who have no security in their jobs and who do not know if they will have a job in six months' time. Those people are also being asked to pay. Somehow or other they are being tarred with this brush of having security and of not being willing to play their part. Everybody I know is willing to play their part as long as it is done fairly and in a way that people can see they are not being scapegoated while others are being let off the hook.

That is why in this Labour Party motion we ask that the Government go back and negotiate again with the social partners and that it present us with a full, complete plan on how we will get out of this mess, how we will create jobs, how we will get the rich to pay and how we will ensure everybody can see they are getting fair play. If President Obama can cap the higher incomes in his country, I do not see why we cannot do so.

We need a total change of culture. Looking at the northern European countries, there is a much smaller divide between the well off and the less well off yet they are successful economies and societies with excellent health and education services.

We need to bring about that kind of society where we narrow the gap between rich and poor instead of what seems to be happening here where the less well off people on €15,000 to €20,000 per year are being asked to pay this levy while the rich get off scot free. We need to bring about a fairer Ireland and close that gap between rich and poor. We need to cap higher incomes and see the likes of Mr. Goggin and others in the banks having their incomes capped rather than simply a percentage taken off. We need to channel all the anger to change the culture of greed, access and privilege to one of solidarity and fairness.

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