Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is a bit of craic to discuss the question of which party is more conservative than the other, and the marriage between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael can be part of that banter but this is deeply serious. I sat on the Banking Inquiry and we saw the graphs. The Fianna Fáil-PD Government of the time cut income tax, the most stable tax available, and it was replaced by other taxes. The USC will bring in €4.6 billion in 2020 and a full debate is nonsense without a full analysis of the costings, etc. The idea of coming in year after year and tinkering with the charge so that it goes after five years is wrong. This is a policy decision that needs proper economic assessment in terms of the risk to this economy.

I believe what Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil are proposing is reckless. If we have learned anything from the last catastrophe this State faced it is that one does not reduce taxes to this level. It may be affordable today because we have a boost in corporation tax and other taxes but it is not affordable in the long term. Every penny we take out of the USC is a penny we are not investing in health or social housing. I ask the Minister to commit to a proper economic analysis of the risks of this policy rather than just a debate in this Chamber.

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