Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)

The Government has only targeted the most vulnerable and less well off in this measure. It is galling to hear the Bank of Ireland chief executive state nonchalantly on the airwaves that he expects to earn less than €2 million this year while his bank's shares and the pensions of so many people who invested their money, including redundancy money, are going through the floor and are virtually worthless. It is also galling to see the Financial Regulator, who was asleep on his watch, ride off into the sunset with €600,000 of a golden handshake and a six-figure annual pension.

The pain must be spread evenly, but it must be spread from the top down and not from the bottom up as is happening here. Too often when it is spread from the bottom up it stops along the way and never reaches the higher echelons. It is time to start with those who pay no tax and, first, is our well heeled tax exiles, who are always able to make it back home for the Galway Races and a table in the tent. It is time to make them pay their taxes in Ireland. Next come our resident landlords, the tens of thousands who have never registered with the Private Residential Tenancies Board and evade and avoid paying taxes on their property and tenants.

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