Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

It is amazing. Why is that? Perhaps, it is because in the North, as the Minister pointed out, Sinn Féin is in power. It has to govern and cannot get away with the kind of populist spoofing its members engage in down here. This fact is at the very heart of the monumental con-job the legislation before us represents.

Leaving aside the ludicrous conflicts between Sinn Féin's position North and South of the Border, let us look at its alternative proposals to raise revenue down here. Sinn Féin talks about wealth taxes as an alternative. I agree with wealth taxes, €500 million worth of which Labour implemented last year. While we all accept that there is more to do, it is notable that Sinn Féin's proposed wealth taxes excluded pension pots, family companies, farms and properties worth up to €1 million. It is incredible stuff. In the world in which I live, one does not have to be a fully fledged millionaire with a Rolls Royce under one's backside to be considered better off. Sinn Féin wants to introduce a third rate of income tax, but cannot agree on which figure to pluck out of the air to indicate how much it would raise. On the Sinn Féin website right now, two completely different figures are suggested of €365 million and €410 million, respectively. How can anyone be expected to take Sinn Féin seriously when it does not even attempt to present a coherent alternative?

Sinn Féin has a long history of being wrong on just about everything when it comes to the economy. Notwithstanding that it was wrong about the bank guarantee, for which it voted, and on cure for the bank guarantee, which it voted against, it seeks brazenly to tell us how we should use the €1 billion a year saved through that cure - the promissory note deal. Sinn Féin is now wrong on the property tax. Sinn Féin - ourselves alone - is always wrong. I will not be supporting the Bill.

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