Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Broughan for bringing forward this Bill and for the opportunity to contribute to the debate. We need to imagine the country in a different way. We need to have some sort of vision for the type of country we want to create. We are in re-building mode at the moment. We need to imagine a country with better health care outcomes and lower levels of crime, one in which people feel safer and where there are higher levels of educational attainment. I believe we all aspire to that.

The issue is how one achieves that. It can be done through developing good institutional systems and proper investment in services. Substantial research has been done in The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better, the fruit of 20 years’ analysis of equality around the world. The common denominator it found was that in countries where there are greater levels of income equality, there are greater benefits to society.

During the boom we often heard of people at chief executive level in the banks saying they would not get out of bed for less than €500,000. How often did we hear the argument that if one paid peanuts, one got monkeys? This Bill is not about begrudgery but about creating a better and more equal society. That can be achieved from the bottom up.

I welcome the Bill’s measures that provide a means of capturing information on pay levels which can then inform public policy, including how we budget. It is a well constructed Bill and Deputy Broughan’s thoughtful contributions are to be welcomed. Income inequality in Ireland is a real issue. Before taxes and redistributive measures kick in, we have the highest income inequality in the entire OECD, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, ahead of the US and the UK, two traditional liberal market economies. Dealing with income inequality should be at the heart of what the Government does, particularly in a Republic where every citizen should have an equal chance of having a good outcome in their lives. Sharing the common wealth should be part of this.

A recent report done by TASC, the Think-tank for Action on Social Change, on income inequality showed a very interesting set of figures. The top 1% of Ireland own 12% of the national income, a percentage which has doubled since 1975. The bottom 90% fell from 72% of the national income to 64% in that time. In 2009, the average annual income of a person in the top 1% was €444,000, 13 times the average income. In 1975, the top 1% of income was only six times greater. Inequality is growing and this will not produce the kind of society to which we aspire. We know the key determining factors which arise from and contribute to poverty are cyclical. The Government should be attempting to break that cycle. It is not just about low pay. There is another strand to this and it is about income inequality.

When one examines the issue of crime in the US, 25% of the world’s prison population is located there while its total population is 5% of the world’s population. While there are many good things about the US, the greatest levels of income inequality are prevalent there too. We should take a lesson from this. Research suggests people, such as those with disabilities, are far likelier to challenge and overcome any inherent discrimination which exists if there is a stable opportunity system. One has to reduce the obstacles to ensure greater levels of income equality.

The Central Statistics Office, CSO, may not be the best place to locate this proposed commission. However, the Bill’s general principles are absolutely important. It is a pity it is being dealt with on a Friday morning and not enough attention is being paid to it in this Chamber. It has the potential at least to give us the information to feed into the kind of policymaking that would change society. When chief executives of multinational companies look at locating in Ireland, they ask if the education system and health care are good, if it is safe to live here and so forth. That all feeds into this Bill’s principles. It would not put people off to move gradually towards a point where one gets a more equal society. There is no real people or worker flight from the Nordic countries which have the most equal income levels. Driving society by greed does not actually benefit it.

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