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

I will be brief. The people the Minister is hitting with this measure will also be affected by cuts to the clothing and footwear allowances, child benefit and the property tax. We are talking about many hundreds of euro being taken from the income of people who are doing a service to the State by looking after their loved ones. To take this action is obnoxious and nauseating. One cannot describe it as fair; it is obscene and indecent. The Minister has claimed consistently she had no alternatives in this regard and had to make hard choices. I find the use of the word "hard" extraordinary. What carers do is hard, in fact "hard" does not even come close to describing what they have to do. They must engage intensely at an emotional, physical, economic and every imaginable level in order to care for their loved ones, thereby providing a service at a massive saving to the State. To do this to them is unconscionable.

The Minister stated there were no alternatives but when alternatives are put to her and to the Government she merely reiterates that headline allowances are being maintained and sings her own praises. Will she answer us directly and simply? Why did she make the choice to do this rather than to increase, even marginally, the tax on those with incomes of more than €100,000 a year? Will she answer that simple question? This point was made by her Labour Party colleagues, and all the groups in civil society mentioned by Deputy Nulty have asked her to do this, but we still have not had a straight answer. Instead of doing this, why would the Minister not increase the PRSI levels for those earning in excess of €100,000 a year? It is a simple choice and is contained in an amendment we tabled. The Minister could do it, and save all this hardship and suffering for people who do not deserve it, those who are the most decent people and the real heroes of our society. Will the Minister not pull back from this and show them the respect they deserve?

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