Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 2:

Report on abolition and replacement of universal social charge

3. (1) The Minister shall, within three months of the passing of this Act, produce a report on abolishing the universal social charge for all those who earn less than €70,000 per year.

(2) The Minister shall, within three months of the passing of this Act, produce a report on abolishing the universal social charge for all employees in the State.

We are back to the dreaded USC, which we have spoken about already. It is a punitive, regressive tax. The Minister can correct me if I am wrong. I accept being corrected. I never object to that. There is no difference now in the spots on the leopard. They are the very same. Fine Gael is in government with Fianna Fáil, and in its manifesto it committed to abolishing the USC. It also agreed a programme for Government with Fianna Fáil. Fianna Fáil supported Fine Gael four years before that in the confidence and supply agreement. The parties have been together for nearly ten years. The parties all supported the USC at the time it was introduced. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are two sides of the same coin.

This tax is so punitive, it acts as a disincentive to people going to work. I am tired of saying this but I am a self-employed person and I have employed people. It must be rewarding for people to go to work, no matter what job it is. People must have a sense of pride in what they do. There is no point if it becomes unviable. People have a desire to get a fair day's pay for a fair day's work. They want to derive satisfaction from it and play their part in their country and nation and provide for themselves and their family. That is a noble vision and aspiration for anybody, but not when the Minister taxes them like this and then reneges on the Government's promise to abolish the USC. It is like the Taoiseach telling us since he became Taoiseach that the Government would run the full term, yet he admitted this morning for the first time that he is going to call the election this week. What kind of message does that send to the public? It is that we cannot believe aon focal or dhá focal, like in the song by Richie Kavanagh. We cannot believe any word from the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste or the Cabinet.

This tax is regressive and punitive on people on lower incomes. While the Minister has removed some of those on lower incomes, there are many other people in middle Ireland who pay for everything. They do not qualify for local authority housing or Student Universal Support Ireland, SUSI, grants. They do not qualify for medical cards, dental repairs or any kind of treatment for their children or themselves. They are trapped in a situation whereby they have to pay for everything. They can get no supports of any shape, make or form whether they go to the hospital or the doctor. They cannot get a medical card or doctor-only card. They cannot get anything.

These are the people the Government talks about and patronises. The previous Fine Gael Taoiseach - I genuinely struggle now to differentiate Fine Gael from Fianna Fáil - Deputy Varadkar, said he wanted to support the people who get up early in the morning. The Government is not supporting them in any shape, make or form. They get up an luath ar fad. They get up in the morning and go to work. I meet them. I am canvassing them. The Minister is canvassing them so he must be meeting them. They are the two types of people I meet who are so downtrodden and disappointed in the country and its future. They lack confidence in it and many of them will not vote at all because of this situation. They work all day long.

I met a lady last night and I do not believe there will be any relief for her either. She has €10,000 in a pension. She would love to unlock it. She is a young woman. She pays €1,300 a month in rent in the village of Kilsheelan near Clonmel. She has to travel to work. She and her husband are trying to get a deposit together, so that they will have some hope of putting a home together for themselves. If they were paying that amount of money in a mortgage, they would be on the road to somewhere, but that is not the case. They are so downtrodden and trapped. She and her husband both work. They have two lovely small children. It is a noble aspiration to have a family like that. They are downtrodden with tax. They must pay for everything and they get nothing. This budget did nothing at all for them.

It did nothing for that large cohort of people. I accept there were double payments for people on social welfare, pensioners and many others, which was an unashamedly naked effort to buy votes. The election is being called now when those payments are settled in and there is a feelgood factor for people. That money will go like snow off a ditch. They will sit there in Kilsheelan, right under the Comeragh Mountains. It is a cold and bleak place in the winter. We had lovely weather this week but we are going to have cold weather, heating bills, maintenance and everything else. Many people have difficult landlords.

There is another cohort of people I meet, who I am sure all present meet. I visited a private estate where the saddest thing is that in most of the houses the parents were alone and the family is imithe, gone all over the world, to Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Hong Kong. There is no sign of many of them coming back. I have 11 beautiful grandchildren, so I know what it is like to have grandchildren in all of those places. These people are saving up to go to Australia to see them. These young people are our brightest and best. The hope and dream for them was that they would grow up and be able to support them in their autumnal years, and they would be able to be around them, but they are gone. That is the case in house after house. There are tears in the eyes of some of the people.

It is so sad that Ireland today is doing this. We are not looking after our own. These are the brain pool, the enablers and the highly educated ones we need in the economy and in the country but they are going. More are going all the time. The Minister is offering them no hope in this budget. He is offering no hope whatsoever with the USC. They are being crucified with tax. They are not able to get any supports or to get on the property ladder. Is mór an trua an rud sin: na daoine óige imithe, trasna an domhan. Their parents are left at home, some ageing and ill. Some are crying. Some parents are saving up to go on the long flights to Australia, Hong Kong and other places - to a strange land they never had any desire to visit.

They feel they have to go to see their adult children and their grandchildren. That is a noble thing to be able to do as well. I am fortunate that nine of my grandchildren are within a mile of me and the other two, God bless them, are only 13 miles away. It is so sad. We are all meeting those people and we are going to meet many more of them as we go out knocking on the doors. What do we say to them?

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