Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

Although the Minister uses quite elegant language, the message remains the same, that people, many of whom are close to the ruling Fianna Fáil Party, have enjoyed extraordinary latitude in their tax affairs. In recent years in particular it has been open to many individuals disposing of interests in companies to go offshore for a period of time to avail of very substantial, legitimate - the Minister is at pains to confirm the legitimacy of these arrangements - avoidance of tax. The consequence is that we have two classes of Irish citizens - those who live, bring up their families and pay income tax in the country and those who, while they can avail of all the advantages of living in Ireland for a significant part of the year and identifying with Ireland, do not pay income tax here.

The Minister says he has no idea of the number of people involved. Many of them have been very successful in business and good luck to them. Many are very charitable through various projects. Nonetheless it is a fundamental rule in a republic that people in the republic contribute by way of taxation. Their children and grandchildren are Irish and most of them are very proud to describe themselves as Irish; they just have this point that they wish not to contribute in so far as possible through income tax or other taxes. The Minister will have been advised by his officials, if he does not personally know many such individuals, that they are a slap in the face to their fellow citizens who pay their fair income taxes. When the Minister is seeking more tax from ordinary workers, the situation on non-resident tax exiles remains difficult.

In the context of the collapse of the international financial system there may be moves to close down or reduce the activities of tax havens and such individuals across a range of jurisdictions. That is part of what has brought the international system down, but we are here to discuss the Irish system. I am disappointed the Minister is not more aware of how unfair the current position is in regard to these super wealthy individuals as compared to ordinary PAYE taxpayers.

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