Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)

In the programme for Government the Taoiseach stated:

[O]ur parties are committed to protecting the vulnerable and to burden-sharing on an equitable basis. Fianna Fáil presided over an unequal and increasingly divided Ireland. We are both committed to forging a new Ireland that is built on fairness and equal citizenship.

They are fine words but the facts revealed this week confirm again that the opposite is the truth under the Government. Social Justice Ireland shows that while the poorest people in society have seen their income drop by 18% in the past year, the wealthiest 10% have seen their income increase by 4% and that the gap between the richest and the poorest has opened dramatically in recent years.

When we say that one should tax the wealthy in this country, the Taoiseach claims there is no pot of gold. I got shocking replies from the Minister for Finance about the earnings of the wealthiest people in society last week and how much tax they paid. They showed a very low level of effective taxes on the wealthiest in society. For example, the top 10,000 earners earned just under €6 billion last year, an average of €595,000 each, and paid an effective tax rate of only 29%. That information came from the Department of Finance.

What everyone on the street knows is now official: the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. Working people and the least well-off are getting it in the neck with austerity while the rich are being protected. What is the Taoiseach going to do about it? Is he going to address the inequality and unfairness and is he going to impose taxes on the super-wealthy who can afford it or will he continue to slaughter the poor, the vulnerable and the working people?

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