Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

With respect, I will not take any lectures from Deputy McAuliffe either. He does not like to hear what the Government parties have done to the young generation of this State. Deputy English talked about giving people hope and an opportunity. I have responded to those comments. I am calling out the bull in the suggestion that people are leaving because of the economy. It is because of housing. The Minister talked about figures, data and new measures. What party goes into a general election planning to fail on housing again? The Cabinet sat around a table today and decided to challenge itself to deliver 20% fewer houses than the figure identified by the expert commission on housing. You could not make this up. Those are the facts. That is the reality.

The Minister talked about reducing taxes on workers. That is what this section is about. It is what my amendment is about. It is about making sure that no worker in this State pays USC on the first €45,000 of income. That is affordable and deliverable. It is not what Fine Gael said when it paraded around with its posters and when Deputy Varadkar led the troops saying that Fine Gael would abolish the USC. It is not that. It is not what Fianna Fáil said, which was that it would abolish it for those earning less than €80,000. It is what is appropriate. It deals with all middle-income earners in this State but benefits everybody. I will move the amendment and I will push it to a vote because it is what is required as regards USC over the coming years.

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