Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge the Members' contributions and thank Deputy Broughan for raising this important issue. We have had a very well-informed debate on this and related issues, which Deputy Broughan has consistently raised throughout his political career, as Deputy Shortall said. The Bill is well intentioned. It is critical for social cohesion that income and wealth distribution is not skewed to the extent we see in far too many societies. The concept of the Bill and what it seeks to achieve are valid. This approach has been central to the Government's approach during this term. Its success is witnessed by the fact that, thanks to social transfers, as identified by many think tanks including TASC, progressive taxation measures and maintaining income floors, the gap has narrowed during recent years. Like many in the House this morning, I want the gap to narrow further.

As I detailed in my opening remarks, there is a danger that the Bill, if enacted, would have unintended consequences such as fatally undermining the independence of the CSO, and this cannot happen. Much of what is in the Bill is already provided for in data monitoring and through the Government's policy, framing and implementation approach, for example the ex postand proposed ex antesocial impact assessment of the budget each year, the commitment to require all public bodies to take due note of equality and human rights in carrying out their functions, and the requirement that all Government decisions examine their likely impact on equality issues generally and on persons at risk of poverty or social exclusion.

Deputy Broughan referred to TASC and the ESRI, directly quoting TASC's statement that Ireland is one of the most unequal countries in the EU in terms of income but it is important that we include the following line, "before taxes and social welfare payments are included". We can see the very clear distributional benefits of a progressive tax system that addresses the sense of inequality, and the resourcing of a strong, robust and very effective social welfare system recognised as such by national and international commentators in terms of assisting people in difficult circumstances and ensuring those who have the most contribute the most to the State supports and services that are disproportionately depended on by people in lower income brackets and who are dependent on social welfare.

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