Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate that we have foreign direct investment and that we need it. My county has been privileged to have Merck Sharp & Dohme, MSD, for 40 years, Boston Scientific and many more. We hear about the cost of job creation and the costs for small businesses trying to get incentives. They cannot get any of them, but there are huge incentives for these companies to come here. Let me put it on the record that I support the current corporation tax, but this is something different. It is very hard for the ordinary working man or woman or, indeed, the self-employed people who are being persecuted by the Revenue Commissioners at present. We have these loopholes for people who earn up to €3 million. We know it is a small number but they are all quite well-to-do and have a good income. This makes it even better. Why discriminate so negatively against our own employees, employers and people, especially when we are so strapped for cash across a wide area? The Minister keeps throwing money into the black hole down the road. I do not believe he will ever make a hospital out of it. One cannot make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. When there are bad foundations, it can go only one way.

It is time we examined some of these loopholes and incentives. Certainly, we must be attractive but do we need such inequity in the system against our PAYE workers and self-employed people? They are the people we should be seriously trying to support. I met a hotelier yesterday and he is simply browned off with all the taxes, insurance and everything else. Nothing is being tackled. There are only extra rates, water charges, the minimum wage continuously increasing and so forth. People are just walking away from being employers and from their employees. Many of them have different incomes. This provision certainly should be changed somewhat.

The Minister rails against amendments of all sorts that would bring in extra funding. I will not repeat everything Deputy Pearse Doherty said but we see the carnage in our emergency departments. There is no mental health bed in Tipperary. There is an epidemic of suicides and no services. Nurses are not approved. In fairness, the Minister of State, Deputy Daly, and many others are doing their best. The unfairness is chronic. Deputy Fitzmaurice and I tabled an amendment on Committee Stage and the Minister rejected it. It proposed a land tax on conglomerates that own more than 500 acres of land. It was laughed out of the way. These people can buy everything. They have endless money. They can control vast swathes of land, not only in Tipperary but also in Wicklow, Kildare and throughout the country. A farmer with 500 acres should be well able to survive on a family farm that would make up five farms. The Minister turned his nose up at it. He also did so last year, the year before and the year before that. There is some inherent reason that he will not tackle or challenge these fat cats. We recognise that they provide employment too. They have excellent prowess in the racing industry. However, they should be made to pay their tax. The ordinary small farmer cannot buy a piece of land.

This is more of the same. We treat our own people with disdain but we allow these people to ride roughshod over us, day in and day out, without explanation. It beggars belief, and especially when the Minister is strapped for cash in so many areas, be it orthodontic treatment or treatment for cataracts. Deputies Danny Healy-Rae and Michael Collins brought a bus load of people to the North for treatment - "go to Belfast or go blind". It is pathetic. The Government is on its merry way again with the broadband. It is another Ponzi scheme. It will probably end up in the courts and come crashing down around it.

I support the amendment because this is inherently unfair and is going on for too long. Surely we can make some adjustment so there can be a sense of fair play for our native workers. We are not giving this to other people who come here from different lands and are expected to work to keep our economy going. We are not giving them any such incentives. Why be so selective for one group of people?

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