Debate resumed on amendment No. 1:To delete all words after “Dáil Éireann” and substitute the following: "acknowledges that the consolidation effort necessary to correct what had become an unsustainable fiscal position has necessarily led to a reduction in incomes and living standards for all groups in society; notes that: — the Budgets 2009-2015 had the greatest cumulative impact on household disposable incomes for those in the top decile; — consolidation of the public finances was paramount and this was conducted in a phased and progressive manner; — the Government’s budgetary policies have contributed to a turnaround in the fiscal position with the underlying budget deficit falling from €18 billion (or 11 per cent of GDP) in 2010 to just over €5 billion (or 2.7 percent of GDP) in 2015 with the debt-to-GDP ratio declining from 123 per cent of GDP in 2013 to below 109 per cent in 2015; and — between 2008 and 2014 the gap between the day-to-day spending of the State and taxes collected, that is the underlying deficit, added €100 billion to our debt levels; notes: — the strong recovery now underway in the economy, with GDP estimated to have grown by 4.7 per cent in 2014 and projected to grow by 3.9 per cent in 2015; — that the best route out of poverty is a job and the Government is determined to return the economy to full employment by 2018; — the progress made to date in this regard and the turnaround in the labour market with employment having increased by over 84,000 since its low point in the third quarter of 2012 and the fall in the unemployment rate of 4.5 percentage points in just three years; — the highly progressive nature of the income taxation system, with the tax wedge on those at 167 per cent of the average wage as a percentage of those on 67 per cent of the average wage, the second highest in the OECD; and — the fact that the tax and welfare systems are highly effective in reducing market income equality with the Irish tax and welfare system the most effective in the OECD at reducing market income inequality and that disposable income inequality in Ireland is in line with EU and OECD averages; further notes that: — in the face of extraordinary fiscal pressures the Government has maintained core welfare payments, thereby supporting a basic standard of living for welfare recipients; — the main beneficiaries of the income tax and the Universal Social Charge (USC) changes introduced by the Government in Budget 2015 were those on low and middle incomes and the Government’s intention is, subject to fiscal constraints, to continue to introduce further changes of this nature over the coming years; — the top 1 per cent of income earners, who earn over €200,000, are projected by the Revenue Commissioners to pay 20 per cent of all income tax and USC in 2015; — corporation tax revenue collected in Ireland is broadly in line with the EU average and that, in 2013, corporation tax receipts were just over €4.2 billion, which is 11.3 per cent of overall Exchequer tax revenue and equivalent to 2.6 per cent of GDP; — the increase in net household wealth in recent years is largely driven by increases in house prices and that home ownership is relatively evenly distributed across the income distribution; and — the Government already carries out an extensive distributional analysis of changes in budgetary policy and its intention to augment this analysis through the preparation of a social impact assessment of future budgets; further notes the recent announcement of the Government’s Social Housing Strategy 2020 and the Government’s commitment therein to deliver 35,000 new social housing units over the period to 2020; notes that: — the consistent poverty rate for older people has declined, from 2.6 per cent in 2012 to 1.9 per cent in 2013, which at present would meet the national social target for poverty reduction for this group; — the consistent poverty rate for people with illness/disability has reduced by 6.8 percentage points to 10.8 per cent in 2013; — the Government remains committed to meeting the national social target for poverty reduction, which is to reduce consistent poverty to 4 per cent by 2016 and 2 per cent or less by 2020; — Government recently adopted a child-specific poverty sub-target which is to reduce the number of children in consistent poverty by 70,000 by 2020, a reduction of two-thirds on the 2011 level; — the aggregate cost of abolishing the Local Property Tax, Water Charges, and USC for those earning under €35,000, as well as reversing the social welfare measures, as proposed by opposition Deputies, would be an estimated €4.25 billion; and — the required increase in the 40 per cent income tax rate would be 19 per cent, resulting in a marginal tax rate including USC and PRSI of 71 per cent for PAYE taxpayers which would reduce GDP and employment substantially; and calls on the Government to continue to implement its successful socio-economic policies which provide the basis for continued increases in employment, reductions in unemployment and improvements in living standards particularly for those on lower and middle incomes." - Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Deputy Ann Phelan)

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