Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)

My amendment is similar. .According to the Minister's own statistics, there are not many people earning under €25,000. I think it is only about 20,000 in total. Therefore, the cost of making this concession would be extremely small. It goes to the heart of the matter. My original amendment which was ruled out of order provided that it be compensated for further up the levy structure but as that would constitute a charge on the people, the amendment was ruled out of order. My substitute amendment, No. 15a, was tabled so as not to impose that charge on the people. The principle is accepted across the House that, even on its own terms, the levy could be made fairer by some scheme of this nature. I calculated that, at most, it would cost about €5 million, which sum would have to be recouped further up the income scale. The cost of this concession would be €5 million out of a figure of €1.4 billion, which is not big money. The Minister could easily retrieve this sum further up the income scale. Even if only a small number of people were affected, it would show that the Minister was open to modifying his proposals. The Taoiseach said the proposals could be tweaked. The sum of €5 million would surely represent a tweaking. It would not be a substantial change.

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