Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

To answer the Deputy's question, a pay increase is not a pay increase when in 2022 a person ends up earning the same as he or she did in 2012. It is the reversal of a pay cut. It is pay restoration. The Deputy may choose to misrepresent them, but those are the facts.

I heard the Deputy speaking on the radio yesterday. One thing I have to say is that I respect his sincerity. He believes in an ideology, namely, socialism, and I respect that. Nevertheless, he made two statements that are totally wrong. He mentioned price controls. We know the world over what happens when price controls are introduced. We end up with supply problems and rationing. It is what happened in the Soviet Union, eastern Europe and other places when it was tried. I also heard the Deputy say we should have a maximum wage and nobody should earn more than €150,000 a year. That is fair enough; that is the Deputy's view but I disagree with it. If that happened, there would be a brain drain of talent from the State. It is what happens in socialist countries around the world when they attempt this. We would see investment from multinationals and foreign direct investment either dying off and, perhaps, being removed altogether. The cake would then get smaller and there would be less for everyone. That is what happens when socialism is attempted in the genuine and sincere way the Deputy would try to do it.

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