Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)

I move amendment No. 8:

In page 7, to delete lines 28 to 42 and in page 8, to delete lines 1 to 7.

This deals with one of the substantive issues in the supplementary budget, the income levy. This is a grossly unfair levy, applied even at rates below the minimum wage. This demonstrates its lack of fairness. The Minister does not have a comprehension of the difficulties of families living on low incomes and the struggle people endure daily. The threshold was just over €18,000 and as bad as that was, at least it met the threshold of the minimum wage. In coming below that level, a significant burden is placed on low income families.

I am sure the Minister will tell me that nobody in the public sector, for example, earns below the minimum wage but there are people in part-time employment or other less than full-time employment who earn less than the equivalent minimum wage for that reason. Those people on a very low income are being caught in the net, although they may be entitled to other social welfare benefits, such as the family income supplement, for example. They are still faced with this levy and are only one category of people.

This is unfair because of the pressure people are under at the moment. Many people have said to me lately that although they are afraid of losing their jobs, they would nearly be as well off on social welfare because of all the levies that have hit them. People's heads are down and they are genuinely depressed about the significant imposition placed on them through the emergency budgetary measures. Many are struggling to feed and clothe their children. People are arguing that the minimum wage is hampering our competitiveness but those people have no comprehension of the difficulty of daily living for certain families and their daily struggle to survive.

I have no expectation that the Minister will accept this amendment but it is important that we air this issue and represent in this House those people at the coal face of the effects of these levies.

See this speech in context