Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

The Minister introduced a change last year, which brought the limit up to €1 million. Why on earth should we have a scheme where there is a minimum threshold required in order to get a tax advantage? It is only those earning in excess of €75,000 and up to €1 million who can avail of this scheme. This is an affront to ordinary workers, that is, people who are struggling to survive because of the policies of the Government as the cost of living here is going through the roof. Why should there be a special arrangement for people who are better off? Why does the Minister not concentrate on reducing the cost of living instead, which will benefit people right across the economy? There can be no justification for this scheme. While we do have a problem with attracting people with essential skills in different categories, the Department does not do sweetheart deals for all of the other categories of workers in areas where there are shortages. It is deeply unfair and the Minister must end this scheme. It must be scrapped and the IDA must stop entering into these kinds of private arrangements. It must stop depending on these kinds of unfair arrangements in order to do its work.

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