Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

The British Prime Minister in charge of his country which uses sterling set out his reasons very clearly.

Deputy Boyd Barrett speaks about winning the day in other countries. What people do in Greece, France or the regional elections in Germany or anywhere else is their business and I do not speak for them and neither does Deputy Boyd Barrett. One can comment on the outcome. The Deputy recognises of course that the problem will not go away and must be dealt with. Deputy Boyd Barrett's proposition, about which he has been speaking for some time, is to tax the wealthy out of existence which means what he wants to do is introduce a measure to close a deficit of €10 billion in one year which, as I stated to Deputy Adams, would give a lethal injection to the Irish economy and kill off any potential investment which would lead to jobs and opportunities throughout the country. I do not accept the Deputy's proposition.

Nor do I say he is a man of straight answers, because in this House I asked him for straight answers about his conduct and that of his colleagues in Galway at the Labour Party convention. Of course he did not see anything, hear anything or know anything, yet he gives straight answers. St. Michael's College did not teach him that I am sure, so I do not know where he is headed in this regard. I reject his proposition completely. If he wants to spell out to the nation during the course of the next three weeks where he proposes to get the €10 billion he speaks about I would like to hear it. Deputy Boyd Barrett's colleague in the corner wants to raise €400 million from legalising cannabis while he wants to tax everybody out of existence at 75% or 80% on €100,000 which would drive every investor out of the country and prevent anyone else from coming in here. His proposition for a "No" vote based on his proposition and that of his colleagues in UKIP and the Europe of Freedom and Democracy group would be catastrophic for Ireland.

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