Pearse Doherty (Sinn Fein)

No, it would not. I refer the Minister of State to a reply to a parliamentary question from the Department of Finance. He prefers to suggest Department of Finance officials, through the Minister for Finance, should mislead the Dáil in answer to a question. When we asked if a third rate of tax of 48% was to be introduced for individuals with an incomes in excess of €100,000, the answer was that such a measure would generate or save this amount of money for the State.

Also, we argue that we should follow other European countries such as France in introducing a solidarity tax on assets with a value of more than €1 million. In that context, we would exempt the family farm and individual houses. Such a measure could raise well in excess of €1 billion. In fact, we have estimated it could raise €1.6 billion, while others such as UNITE have argued it could generate a sum in excess of €2.2 billion. There are other ways to do it, but the Government has decided to take from the lowest paid in society. It has decided to raise revenue and remove social welfare protection for those aged under 25 years, cutting the value of their supports by more than 50%. This makes no sense to me.

The arguments are very simple. Should we introduce a solidarity tax such as that in place in France and other European countries on assets with a value in excess of €1 million, or should we cut dole payments to those under 23 or 25 years by €100? The answer is clear to me. Obviously, those with the ability to do so should pay more. Should we introduce a third rate of tax for individuals with an income in excess of €100,000 such that they would pay 7% more in tax? Of course, we should. It would make more sense than cutting elsewhere.

Some 30,000 public sector workers registered with the Department of Finance live in my county - County Donegal - of whom some 26,000 have an income of less than €30,000. What decision has the Government taken during the past year? It has cut their income by 13%. Approximately 20,000 of the people concerned have an income of less than €20,000.

I understand there are no simple solutions to fix the economy, that nothing is easy in this world and that the Government's actions have consequences. However, it is a matter of priorities and for some reason the Government has decided that the priority should be to fix the banking institutions.