Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

The point has been made and the Minister knows we disagree. There are many talented people who have left or who are leaving this country. We need those people in our construction sector, public services and a number of other areas where there are quite serious labour shortages. The reason many people do not return to Ireland is due to the fact that the cost of accommodation or that wages are just not high enough. Where is the incentive for those individuals? We are giving this incentive to people who must earn more than €75,000 per year, excluding bonuses, commissions, etc,. that they also get. A person can only get this if he or she is massively well paid. Some of these people are so massively well paid it boggles the mind. One would wonder if anybody really deserves to be paid that much. Not only are these people paid massive amounts, but we are giving them a tax relief that no ordinary worker would ever hope or expect to get. Where is the incentive for the people who earn less than €75,000, particularly when we desperately need them? The Minister argues that we need these people and that this measure is justified in order to get them. What will he do to attract the people who would earn less €75,000? What incentive is being given to them? That inequity makes this totally unacceptable. No amount of argument about the benefit arising from this or that company to the country can justify that inequity. Any point that can be made by the Minister about the contribution those companies make to this country could equally be made about all the people who earn less than €75,000. Do those who earn less than €75,000 not make an equally important contribution to this country and its economy?

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