Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State has spoken about the redistributive power of our tax system. I am not sure whether he noticed the Oxfam wealth report, which shows that the billionaires have got 55% richer over the course of the last two years while 700,000 people are living in deprivation. It is not much of a redistributive power if the wealth continues to funnel upwards while inequality continues to accelerate. When you say that Ireland is the fifth richest country in the world when measured by GDP per capita, people think there is no way that could be when they see the housing crisis, the number of people homeless, the crises in health and education, all of the other crises all around us and the epidemic of low pay. The reason Ireland can be the fifth richest country in the world while having all of these social problems is because the wealth is controlled by the super wealthy. It is accumulated in their hands and the Government represents their interests. That is the answer. The solution is to go after that wealth through both taxation and nationalisation.

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