Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)

I, too, support the amendment. Does the Minister have any idea of the cost, in terms of numbers, of accepting this proposal? Will he explain what adjustments would be required to the other bands to compensate for the loss of revenue?

The Minister is asking people who qualify for family income supplement to make a contribution of 3%. Are these people to return this supplement by way of pension levy? Perhaps the Minister will provide us with an indication of the cost of this proposal. As Deputy Bruton correctly stated, the imposition of an extra 0.5% on a person in receipt of €100,000 extra gross will not break the State. We are not asking that the Minister reduce the amount he hopes to collect but to adjust the bands to compensate for the loss of revenue down the line. It appears stupid that people who qualify for family income supplement and in receipt of €15,000 will be required to pay €450 gross by way of pension levy.

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