Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)

One of the crucial elements of our approach is that it is fair. In a difficult economic situation, the first element of fairness must be a safety net. The most fundamental sign of a civilised society is that it ensures that those who fall through the cracks in difficult times, and may not be able to budget for their incomes, are caught by the social welfare safety net before they fall to the bottom. During the last ten years of prosperity, we correctly increased social welfare and pension rates in a steady, year-on-year manner. We protected those rates, rather than cutting them, in yesterday's budget. We appreciate that the social welfare net is a fundamental aspect of our modern and democratic European society. It makes us a stronger and better people. That was the first element of fairness that we had to maintain in yesterday's budget.

The manner in which we impose taxation has to concentrate on those who have more money, rather than those who have less money. I accept that we have broadened the tax base on the income side. We made fundamental decisions to increase the capital gains and inheritance tax rates. The manner in which the income levy has been increased will ensure that those with the highest incomes have no place to hide. That they were able to do so before now was the greatest unfairness in our tax system. The very wealthy have been able to employ smart lawyers to ensure that they do not have to pay a penny. They will be unable to do that under the income levy system. It is fair because it is graded upwards to ensure that those with the highest incomes pay the most. There is real progressiveness in the tax changes that have been proposed. There is real fairness in the Government's determination to retain the safety net that protects the poorest people in our society and those who are experiencing difficult economic times, through no fault of their own, having lost their jobs and become unable to budget for the downturn that is occurring.

The people of Ireland should have hope because they are resilient and innovative. Our balance of payments is improving even as our debt payments increase. The amount of money we are getting for the goods we are exporting is greater than the amount of money we are spending on imports and debt repayments. The fact that our exports have contracted by just 1%, year on year, is a sign of real hope. The exports of similar economies, such as Japan, have almost halved. Our economy continues to have a strong fundamental strategic trading ability.

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