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

I will take that as a "No". The Tánaiste cannot give an assurance to hundreds of thousands of families who are living in poverty. Approximately 700,000 children live in poverty and hundreds of thousands more are hovering just above the poverty line. He cannot assure them they will be protected or get relief from the dire circumstances they face.

The Tánaiste says there is no alternative because we must restore the public finances. A couple of weeks ago I asked a question on corporation tax which revealed that corporations that made profits in this State of €61 billion last year only paid an effective tax rate of 6.5%. If the Government brought the rate up to 12.5% it would raise between €3 billion and €4 billion and do away with the need for property taxes or further cuts in health services and education. Will the Government make corporations with multi-billion euro profits take the hit rather than families who are struggling with poverty and, in some cases, hunger?

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