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

We tabled this amendment because we believe in tax justice. We believe in an equitable distribution of wealth and income which we are a very long way from. The Minister says we would not get these people whom we need and we would not be competitive given the tax breaks that these incredibly well-paid executives can get elsewhere and therefore we need to do the same. I do not know the chronology of which of the countries the Minister mentioned introduced these tax reliefs first. However, I certainly believe we have helped spearhead where others have followed a certain model which is to attract investment on the basis of cutting taxes on the profits of corporations and now on the income of high-flying executives. To my mind that is a race to the bottom and somebody pays for it.

The distribution of wealth around the world is ever-more concentrated in the hands of the CEOs and top executives of a relatively small number of corporations. I am talking about staggering wealth in the billions and tens of billions of euro. It is beyond comprehension and it gathers apace. It is because of the notion that unless we make them pay little or no tax, whether it is on their income or on their profits, we cannot have a viable economy and therefore we must do it. From the point of view of ordinary people that is a zero-sum game where we will lose. The 99% of ordinary people, the butcher, the baker, the nurse, the street cleaner and pretty much everybody, are losing out and ultimately will lose out by that approach which I fundamentally reject.

In all sincerity, I ask the Minister to think about all the really special people. He can say these people are special people, have special skills or whatever it is. However, to my mind the student nurses, 70% of whom say they will leave the country after they are qualified, are just as special. The construction workers who go to Australia when we need them are just as special and they are not getting these kinds of breaks. It is fundamentally unfair.

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