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

Of course. What else could we do given the time available? It is interesting that it was not a bad shot in the dark considering, because the Minister stated if he agreed to these amendments they would gather €400 million, that is 40% of the adjustment, and shift the adjustment from those earning less than €100,000 to those earning more than €100,000. It would still leave those earning more than €100,000 very well off. I do not think they will have trouble paying their bills, but it would do a great deal to alleviate the burden the Minister is imposing on people earning less than €100,000.

To respond to the Minister's suggestion and quip that our definition of the working class makes it very hard to be in the working class, let me point out, although I am sure the Minister knows, that many people who earn between €65,000 and €100,000 are in single income large families with nobody else working. They incur many costs such as mortgages. If one happens to be in a single income family earning between €65,000 and €100,000 it does not make one wealthy. Many people in this bracket are having extreme trouble paying their mortgages and bills and educating their children. This is not to say that if we had believed adjustments over recent years were necessary people earning more than €65,000 should not have had to bear some of them, but this group has already taken a hammering with the universal social charge and the levies. The reason we strike a ceiling at €100,000 in these amendments, and seek to shift the burden to people earning more than €100,000, is because we can be absolutely certain people earning more than €100,000 can afford it. This is the point. If we want to then parse a little more the people earning less than this we can examine it, but the point is once people earn more than €100,000 we know they can afford it.

As has been pointed out by Deputy Nulty and many of us on this side of the House, we see this attempt to shift the burden as part of a wider package of putting forward an alternative to unfair, unjust and, we believe, economically counter-productive austerity. It would also involve the tax system which, as has been stated, is a fair and progressive way to deal with collecting revenue for the State which does not discriminate. There should not be discrimination between the public and private sectors. The Minister's quoting of the CSO figures, if he does not mind me saying so, plays a little bit into demonising the public sector and setting it against the private sector by stating private sector wages averages only €32,000 but public sector wages are higher. This is not the definition or the line which should be drawn. The line which should be drawn is between low and middle income people who are genuinely struggling to pay their mortgages and bills and those who can afford to do so.

As Deputy Healy and others stated, these proposals form a suite of alternative and more progressive ways to gather revenue for the State which would also include wealth taxes and increased corporation taxes. Even in the narrow remit of this legislation why would the Minister not accept an amendment? If he could even bother to listen perhaps he would explain to us why it would not be fair to shift €400 million of the adjustment he wants to impose on people earning less than €100,000? He stated it was 40%.

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