Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I always admire that, unlike some other Deputies, Deputy Boyd Barrett will put forward costed ways in which funding can be raised. He and I strongly differ about their consequences. The financial transactions tax, FTT, is the classic example of one. The FTT is likely to be implemented in some European Union member states in coming years. I believe that will happen. From the point of view of having an open economy such as our own, which has a very strong financial services sector within it, I believe the consequences of us bringing in an FTT at the moment would be very negative for jobs and financial services in our country. Whatever potential revenue we may gain from introducing an FTT, which I believe would be short-lived, would be very quickly eroded by the consequences of employment loss in a very important part of the modern Irish economy.

I agree with the Deputy on labour market participation issues. Many of the people who live here are not participating in the labour market for all kinds of different reasons. We need to refocus on how we can encourage them to work if that is what they want to do.

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