Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I see arriving into the Gallery some of the Stardust families who have handed in a petition today. I extend a very warm welcome to them and wish them the very best in their campaign to reopen the inquest into that fire on St. Valentine's Day 1981. Tá fáilte romhaibh.

At the weekend, to rapturous applause, the Taoiseach made the bold claim that he would, if re-elected, deliver five years of tax cuts. He did not couch his comments with the word "but" or explain to people that his plan was to give with one hand and to take back with the other. However, this is exactly what we see with the latest announcement that tens of thousands of workers, many of them very low-paid workers, will lose their entitlement to claim flat-rate expenses. This was confirmed in the response of the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, to a parliamentary question tabled by my colleague, an Teachta Pearse Doherty, last week. We are talking here about a few bob that workers claim to cover the cost of equipment that they need for work, things like uniforms, tools and stationery. We are not talking about wholesale tax breaks which, as the Taoiseach knows, others enjoy. We are talking about very legitimate and necessary expenditure which certain categories of workers incur as part of their jobs. Some 75,822 shop assistants, the group worst affected, will lose more than €120 a year. This will mean a net saving to the Exchequer of €9 million per annum. It is hardly a massive outlay. Nonetheless, the loss of it for individual workers on low wages will be felt. This entire proposal is a prime example of policy set at a complete disconnect from reality. The high cost of living weighing down on ordinary workers cannot be tackled if the taxman snipes away at the very modest and necessary expenses they can claim.

Let us contrast this with the Government's treatment of the super-rich. As of this summer, there were nearly 500 high-wealth individuals who possess wealth in excess of €50 million each. In 2015 this cohort claimed a combined €93 million in tax credits, a great multiple of what was claimed by low-paid workers. Of this sum, €45 million was claimed in capital allowances, mostly by landlords claiming tax relief on furniture. The very rich can avail of €93 million in tax reliefs, yet the Taoiseach wants to scrap the very small tax relief of a couple of euro a week for ordinary working people. This is unbelievable. Ending the tax break for banks would have brought in €175 million; ending the tax break for multinational corporations, which onshore-----

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