Mary White (Fianna Fail)

It is a great opportunity and an honour for me that the Minister has come to the House to reply to this matter. I am a member of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Finance and the Public Service and members of the committee have had meetings with Department of Finance and Revenue officials. Having studied the issue I wish to raise, various aspects have come to my attention. When one studies an area, one learns a great deal about it.

I am concerned about the whole business of the tax exile and non-resident status of certain Irish people. I will attempt to put this in simple language. Capital gains tax was reduced from 40% to 20%. There are people on the island of Ireland who have made multi-million euro profits who benefit from non-residency tax status. The tax rules allow people to claim non-residency status and still spend half the year, or 183 days, in Ireland. The 1994 "Cinderella" rule provides that a day spent in the State does not count if the person leaves at midnight. I have heard anecdotal stories about people leaving this jurisdiction at five minutes before midnight, flying north and coming back to Dublin for meetings at 8 a.m.

I am not naming individuals. However, at the last meeting of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Finance and the Public Services, at which members met with representatives of the Irish Taxation Institute, they said that tax reliefs have a shelf live. This tax relief status was introduced when Ireland had a flagging economy. The Minister for Finance has said that any tax incentive must ensure the right balance is achieved between the benefit to the investor and the good of the community. Tax incentives must be driven by the socio-economic needs of the country. Therefore the litmus test is whether the incentives for the tax exiles have delivered the desired socio-economic objective.

The Minister is also on record in asserting that the Revenue objective must be to continually improve the equity of the tax citizen. This is the crux issue and one where tax residency appears to fly in the face of equity. I believe that where Irish people have made millions of euro in profits here and are not prepared to pay 20% in capital gains tax, that is sheer greed. Without naming them, many of these people make conspicuous sponsorships and charity donations. Most of the PAYE workers in Ireland make charitable donations. I wonder whether such contributions are a more significant part of such workers' disposable incomes than the contributions made by multimillionaires who will not pay 20% capital gains tax.

Leaving these rules in place has changed Ireland. Such people are held up as icons. They are seen to be successful because they make millions of euro. They have helicopters and can fly out of the country at five minutes before midnight — excusing themselves at parties and dinners on the grounds that they must leave the jurisdiction before midnight.

Anyone who has raised this matter with the Minister is hot under the collar about it, and the bad example these people are giving. What about public servants, people who stay in the Civil Service, for example, who are not concerned with making megabucks? They want to give public service and pay their PAYE. I am not impressed with successful business people of this type being presented to us as role models for younger people.

It would be significant if Fianna Fáil could look at this again. The Minister told the Dáil earlier in the year that the matter would again be looked at. I do not believe this situation is necessary. I raised the matter with the Minister's predecessor, the former Minister for Finance, Deputy McCreevy, a year ago and he took the nose off me, saying there would be no change. Following that I have been talking to people on the ground who feel it is very bad example. Its shelf life is over and we do not need to stimulate the economy any longer. Neither do I accept at this stage that such people are putting all this money back into the economy.