Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)

I strongly support the amendment tabled by the Labour Party. It is essential that we provide for a sunset clause in this Bill. I do not believe for one moment this is a pension levy. If it were a pension levy it would be paid into a pension fund, but the money is going into a black hole. I fully understand, therefore, why public anger is such that 120,000 people took to the streets of this city last Saturday afternoon. I believe public servants will march in ever greater numbers and we will face industrial strife and strikes. It is most unfortunate that the Government has brought us to this situation by forcing the social partners to go their separate ways.

I cannot see any fairness in this levy. It is grossly unfair that a worker who earns €22,000 per annum will be made to pay a levy for which he or she will get no benefit whatsoever. A worker who earns €35,000 per annum will pay a levy of 6% whereas his or her boss pays a levy of only 5% despite earning €350,000. Will the Minister address that anomaly? Public servants such as the chief executive officers of several State agencies earn in excess of €350,000. People earning €35,000, which is barely the average industrial wage, will pay more in tax than the CEO of the ESB, who earns more than €500,000 per annum, or the head of Coillte, who earns more than €414,000. The fundamentally unjust nature of this measure is a reasonable explanation for the numbers who marched on the streets of this city last Saturday.

I too heard the "Morning Ireland" interview with the Tánaiste to which Deputy Burton referred. The Tánaiste was satisfied that the public finances are under control but if that is the case, why do we need this pension levy and why are we debating this Bill? We have a range of means at our disposal for dealing with what we all recognise is an economic crisis created by the Government, bankers and speculators. Why is the Government not choosing reasonable options rather than attacking those on lower incomes? Standardising tax relief, for example, would provide €1 billion. That would almost reach our target in one hero's leap. The budget made some progress on the PRSI ceiling but it did not go far enough.

Certain Government Members are speaking about the need for consensus but what they really mean is that the Opposition should stay quiet. The Minister is shaking his head, but many of his colleagues have accused us of destabilising the market and scaring off international investors by calling it as it is.

See this speech in context