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

To follow on from that, I wish to add to the point I made to the Taoiseach earlier. The EU fiscal treaty rules have been waived in the context of Covid-19. Unless there is something we do not know, there is nothing whatsoever in those rules preventing the Government from spending the extra money that would be necessary to restore the PUP, the wage subsidy and other supports. As Deputy Paul Murphy just indicated, we could achieve this by imposing a solidarity tax. Considering that savings are growing among certain groups and profits are increasing in certain sectors, such as pharmaceuticals and IT, there is no reason whatsoever we could not impose a solidarity tax on those who are doing very well and use the proceeds to prevent our having to impose austerity, unfairness and hardship on people who have lost jobs and employment through no fault of their own as a result of the pandemic. I urge the Government to do that.

The Irish Fiscal Advisory Council said the deficit we could be facing at the end of the year is between €10 billion and €18 billion. This is not an insignificant figure but, considering that €64 billion was poured into the banks the last time we had a crash, it is a small price for ensuring solidarity and fairness for the hundreds of thousands of people who have lost incomes and employment as a result of Covid.

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