Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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I thank Oxfam for the annual report it publishes in the run-up to Davos highlighting the obscene and growing wealth inequality in our world. This year's report is entitled Profiting from Pain and it shows how billionaires have, quite literally, profited from the pain of ordinary people. One thing the report highlights, which the Government does not like to talk about, is the fact that while energy bills are going through the roof for ordinary people, contributing to a massive cost-of-living crisis, the five largest energy companies have made $2,600 in profits every single second. That means that in the time it takes us to have this debate, those energy companies will make a profit of over €2 million. The Government refuses to tackle the profiteering of energy companies and refuses to introduce what both we and Oxfam have called for, which is a windfall tax on the super war profiteering of these energy companies. We call for price controls to stop the energy rip-off and the Government rushes to the defence of these poor, defenceless billionaires. That is why we need a left Government that fights for socialist policies and defends workers, not billionaires. The report reveals that the nine billionaires in Ireland increased their wealth by €16 billion in the last two years. That is absolutely obscene. While ordinary people were struggling to get by, people like Larry Goodman and Denis O'Brien were making a killing. The Irish oligarchs increased their wealth by 55% during Covid but there was not a single new tax on this vast wealth. What more evidence does the Government want that this economic system is rigged? It is rigged by the 1% for the 1%. We agree with Oxfam. We have been calling for a tax on the wealth of these billionaires for some time.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. That is a fact that is revealed yet again, as it is year after year, in the Oxfam report. It is not just a left-wing slogan; it is a fact. While the cost of living is crucifying and impoverishing tens of millions of people across the world, the world's billionaires and multimillionaires are getting richer by the day. The two things are directly related. It is not just a global picture but, as Oxfam reveals, it is also the Irish domestic picture. There has been a 55% increase during the two years of the pandemic in the assets of Ireland's billionaires. That is absolutely extraordinary. It brings their wealth up to a total of €51 billion. Just nine individuals have had an increase in wealth of €15.5 billion in one year. Meanwhile, 691,000 people in Ireland are suffering from deprivation, and those figures are increasing as we speak. The profits of energy companies, food companies, pharmaceutical companies and so on - which the report refers to specifically - are rocketing while ordinary people are impoverished. Oxfam calls, as we have done, for modest tax increases on Ireland's billionaires and multimillionaires. Oxfam states that a 1.5% tax on millionaires who have wealth in excess of €4 million would generate €4 billion a year in extra wealth. Imagine what that would do for housing, poverty and deprivation. This Government refuses to even think about it.

Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I am pleased to have the opportunity to contribute to this discussion on Oxfam's recent global report on inequality levels. The report draws attention to important issues around wealth and income inequality, cost-of-living pressures and how policy in advanced economies can respond to these global challenges. In particular, the report highlights the negative effect the Covid-19 pandemic has had on equality across the world. However, the range of supports the Government put in place in Ireland was extremely effective in stabilising people's incomes and protecting those most at risk.

The Deputies spoke about the energy companies making profits. In Ireland, the main company making a profit is the ESB, which reinvests its profits in Ireland's energy infrastructure. Dividends or profits from that source do not go into any private individual's pocket. The recent Central Statistics Office, CSO, survey on income and living conditions shows that without Covid-19 income supports, the at-risk-of-poverty rate would have been more than 8% higher than it was. Instead, this rate fell by about 1.5% during Covid, down to 11.6%. We all accept that figure is far too high but it would have been 20% without the Covid measures introduced by this Government.

The report also highlights the importance of progressive taxation measures in tackling income inequality. Ireland is a very strong performer in this regard. This discussion is about both global and domestic issues. The Revenue Commissioners estimate that in 2022, the top 1.6% of income earners will pay 28% of total income tax and universal social charge, USC, receipts.

Furthermore, over half of the total income tax and USC receipts will be paid by 8% of taxpayers in Ireland. Indeed, the redistributive power of our tax system has been repeatedly acknowledged by the Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, the OECD and the International Monetary Fund, IMF. I note that the Oxfam blog post on the report highlights the increase in wealth in this country in recent years and raises the issue of a wealth tax. Of course, there are already a number of wealth taxes in place in Ireland including capital acquisitions tax, capital gains tax and local property tax. These generate €2.8 billion per annum as it stands. I know that some people in this House object to a property tax. I would have thought parties on the left would generally support a local property tax but quite a few in this House oppose it. It is very important as it contributes a significant portion of that €2.8 billion. With regard to designing a new tax, Central Bank data show that the main driver of increases in wealth in recent quarters was the positive re-evaluation of housing assets. The value of people's houses has generally been increasing from where it was after the financial shock and this has increased the bank of wealth in Ireland. Houses are a key element in the increase in wealth in Ireland.

With regard to the cost-of-living pressures, we are all aware that inflation has peaked across all advanced economies. This is linked to the rebound in global demand, persistent supply disruptions and pandemic-related effects. The war in Ukraine is further exacerbating this situation. The Government is acutely aware of this and of its impact, especially on low-income families. That is where we have concentrated all of our resources and the €2 billion in increases the Government has dealt with since budget day, up to the most recent changes and the various increases to help people with fuel poverty. Without these, the situation in Ireland would have deteriorated far more dramatically. However, the causes of the current price pressures are not within the control of the Irish Government. The Government has to balance an appropriate response to the increased cost of living in Ireland with the unprecedented level of global economic uncertainty and macroeconomic risk. I am satisfied that the Government has been taking reasonable step-by-step measures on this issue. Nobody thinks the Government can eliminate inflation. All the Government can do - and it is taxpayers' money we are using - is to ameliorate the worst effects of this inflation, especially on those who feel it most.

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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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.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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The rich in this country pay more tax because they have vastly more wealth. It is not because it is a particularly progressive system but because there is a massive inequality in the distribution of wealth and income. The two things are related. There is a completely bogus argument or spin from officials that this proves we have a progressive tax system. It does not prove that at all. What it proves is that the rich have vast accumulations of income and wealth. At the very minimum, we should start to gather this information. It is very telling that we do not have a register of wealth and assets that would allow us to work out how wealth, which has gone through the roof in recent years, is distributed. The figures on deprivation, which we do keep, show that the levels of deprivation, poverty, energy poverty and so on are rising but the companies' profits, the wealth of billionaires and the overall net wealth in the country are all going up. Somebody has the money and it is not the working people of this country.

Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I will highlight the fact that this is an international report in respect of Ireland's contribution to overseas development aid. To this end, we have increased the cash allocation of overseas development aid for the last eight consecutive years, with the contribution reaching over €1 billion for the first time ever this year. With regard to the global issues, we are making a contribution appropriate or relative to our size in the world economy.

There is a research paper available on the ESRI website which shows that the vast majority of wealth is in the form of non-financial assets, with the largest components of household wealth in Ireland deriving from residences and farmland. That is what the ESRI report has said. The Deputies just asked about that. It did not come from our officials here in Ireland. I am sure everybody will give equal respect to the comments of the OECD, which said that Ireland has the most progressive system of taxes and transfers of any OECD member. I want to put that on the record. These comments are not from Government or Department of Finance figures. I understand the issues the Deputies have raised. People on a gross income of approximately €15,000 pay tax at an effective rate of less than 1% whereas people on €100,000 pay at a rate of 38.1%. The effective tax rate for those earning €120,000 is well over 40%. That is progressive taxation. The higher your income, the higher the percentage of it you pay in tax. It is very important to say that. We have made strong efforts in respect of those areas. I accept that we can do more. I also accept that the Covid situation transformed world economies, that there was a transfer of wealth as a result of the pandemic and that the OECD says that Ireland has the most progressive and redistributive taxation system of any member of the OECD.