Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

I remind the Minister that people earning up to €18,000 a year will pay 3% on the first €15,000, which amounts to €450. They will pay 6% on the next €3,000, which amounts to €90. Therefore, somebody on €18,000 a year will pay €540, if I understand correctly the way the levy is structured. This amounts to more than €10 a week for somebody on the very lowest rung of the income ladder. It might not be significant for a judge, the President, a Minister, a Deputy or people in the top echelons of the public service, but it is certainly a significant amount for somebody on a very low income. My worry is that for some people on low incomes it will pay them to go on the dole, claim housing benefit and a range of other benefits, including a medical card. It constitutes an additional poverty and employment trap. We spent a lot of time trying to get away from such traps to make work not just valuable for the fulfilment it brings, but also to make it financially more rewarding that being in receipt of social welfare payments. Strategically, the Minister's policy is wrong in this regard. The Labour Party amendment is reasonable, but if the Minister has a better version and wants to transfer the money lost to those in the higher income brackets, we will certainly support him.

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