Martin Mansergh (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister and his officials. I take this opportunity to congratulate the Minister on his three-year stewardship of the national economy and national finances. As I said in a previous debate, he was adjudged by the Financial Times to be the best Minister for Finance in the euro zone.

The budget has resulted in a situation where 38% of taxpayers no longer pay tax because their incomes are low or low to middle. I have noticed an interesting element entering public debate, namely, this situation is now criticised as being too generous to the low paid. Chambers Ireland and the economics editor of The Irish Times have both made this criticism, with which I do not agree as it is a situation of which we can be proud.

For comparative purposes, I considered the budget produced by Gordon Brown last week. A married couple with two children in the United Kingdom, with one of the couple employed and earning £20,000, which is approximately €30,000, will pay approximately £3,000 or €4,500 under the British budget. Here, a person on €30,000, virtually the exact equivalent, will pay €858, according to the Minister's budget tables, or approximately one fifth of what is paid in Britain. The idea that this is not a low-tax economy is simply not true.

Perhaps this is the way "new Labour" in Ireland would operate if it was in government. What Gordon Brown was doing was taking with one hand and giving with the other.