Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein)

Deputy Broughan is one of the people on the left of the Labour Party and in his heart it must be hurting him to witness this behaviour.

Let us just deal with the facts. The Government speaks of alternatives. My alternative, which the Labour Party once supported, is to introduce a new rate of taxation of 48%. This would raise exactly the same additional income as the universal social charge. That is the choice to be made and it is a question of choices. Deputy Boyd Barrett referred to a 1% tax on the assets of the very wealthy. It is estimated by very progressive economists that this would raise over €1 billion. These are the choices that exist.

The Labour Party should examine its soul and listen to the people it represents. If it is to stand by and allow Fine Gael, whose members, with the exception of a few notable people, espouse a right-wing ideology, to get away with its agenda over the course of the next five years, it will have committed as big a betrayal of the people it represents as Fianna Fáil.

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