Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

Competitiveness is the argument that is often used, but pay levels in Ireland are still far below the EU average. The Minister is underestimating how much they have fallen since the crash. They have increased by 12% for managers and professionals, but there has been a decrease of 5% for lower paid production, transport, craft and other manual workers.

Wage increases are superior to tax cuts because all low and middle income workers benefit, including those too badly paid to be sufficiently in the tax net. The Nevin Economic Research Institute, NERI, found that one third of households had gross incomes of less than €27,000 and would not benefit from income tax cuts. The Minister mentioned a second benefit of wage increases, that being, an increase in tax revenues, which could be used to pay for public services. Tax cuts could decrease what is available for those services.

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