Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

He should not come in here to talk about credibility or being convincing. He presented his budget propositions with a massive black hole in the middle of them. He goes around the country saying, "Pay for nothing; all these services should be free of charge."

In its budget proposals, the Government has set out how it will deal with the questions of poverty, unemployment and employment. The best way to deal with the issue of poverty is to give a person a job. The previous Government imposed a 52% tax burden on workers, which made us uncompetitive and unattractive to further investment. It was an issue that needed to be addressed for a long time. This is the first budget in which there have been no tax increases or spending cuts. It was the Government’s decision to set out to reform the income tax system and start the process in the budget through a reduction in the rate of tax and an increase in the bands. That applies across the board. Owing to the fact that the priority is given to middle and lower income workers, those earning above €70,000 and €100,000 will pay an increased USC rate to make it perfectly obvious that priority is given to those earning less than €70,000. We have taken a further 80,000 workers out of USC liability. For workers on lower incomes, there have been reductions in the two lower bands of USC. Owing to the increase in the income tax band, a further 33,000 workers have been removed completely from the higher rate of income tax liability.

That is the start of the first three years of reform of the income tax process. It is designed to create an extra 15,000 extra jobs on its own. Unlike Deputy Gerry Adams who wants people to wallow at the lower end and live in poverty, this is an incentive for people to come off the live register, as well as having the confidence associated with having a job and a career.

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