Martin Mansergh (Fianna Fail)

I agree broadly with the sentiments of my colleagues. Any judgment must be pragmatic to maximise the public good for individuals in this country. There is a person I will not name, as to do so would be to contravene the rules of the House, who is much criticised, particularly on the Order of Business. To give Members a clue to his identity, he runs a successful airline company. To be fair, that person is tax resident in this country and has even had his photograph taken with a cheque detailing the several million euro he pays. I accept the points made by Senators White and others. Certain people seem to expect enormous praise for particular donations and benefactions they make, whereas they would make a better contribution if they were to remain resident here and, like the gentleman I mentioned, maintained a herd of pedigree cattle to occupy their leisure.

It is thanks to the Minister, in particular, and some of his predecessors that the tax system is no longer as onerous and penal as it could once have been represented. There are people who have made out of public assets vast, windfall fortunes before disappearing to some Mediterranean clime. I agree that it sticks in people's craws. We have a fine country and the tax system is not so onerous. If people are very rich, they can keep a large amount of their wealth to spend here. A caveat is that among that class of individuals, there are some who engage in substantial economic activity in other countries. Given their substantial investments and businesses abroad, they may need to live and work in several different countries. They are in a slightly different category to persons who made their fortunes here before leaving for some other clime simply to avoid paying tax. It is not the patriotic thing to do.

While I am glad the matter is being discussed and aired here, like Senator McDowell, I expect the Minister will not be able to accept the recommendation in its current form. It does no harm to move this recommendation to allow us all to register what we think of the vast majority of our fellow citizens feel on this subject.