Sean Barrett (Independent)

Arising from the Order of Business, I ask that the Leader allow leniency in regard to the 2.30 p.m. time limit on the Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Bill 2011. There are 141 amendments, of which 90 are proposed by the Minister. The bodies concerned have not been consulted, even though the Minister said he would consult them when he was in the House last July. The same Bill reappeared, however, although the Department obviously feels it is seriously flawed and anybody who has read it would think it is seriously flawed. It may require more time than is available up to 2.30 p.m. today to get through the issues, not least dealing with the Minister's many amendments.

The other problem we will encounter is that the Minister will not be present. Therefore, the wisdom we tried to pass on to him last July will have to be communicated again to the Minister of State, Deputy Cannon, who is standing in for him. There should have been proper consultation on this and the Bill should have been prepared much more properly than it was.

On another issue, Mr. Carl O'Brien writing in yesterday's edition of The Irish Times stated: "The Revenue Commissioners raised serious concerns over the fairness of aspects of [the] tax breaks aimed at luring multinational executives to Ireland [which was] signed into law earlier this year." The Minister for Finance was most concerned about this issue and spent many hours debating these tax expenditures, the way in which they have grown and are not properly analysed and their seriously inequitable effects. It is disconcerting that so soon after the Finance Act was passed these concerns are raised by the Revenue Commissioners and the Department of Finance. The tax breaks are of substantial benefit to people who earn between €75,000 and €500,000 per year.

The briefing to Mr. Carl O'Brien states: "The introduction of any measure which results in the reduction of tax paid by high earners, even if done for compelling reasons such as attracting economic activity into the State ... will be criticised in the context of an increasing burden on 'ordinary' employees". This fits into the category the Minister was describing.

I ask that the lobbying that secured this tax break for people earning between €75,000 and €500,000 be placed in the Oireachtas Library for us to consult. It was obviously an attempt to bypass parliament. The lobbyists are listed as "Citibank, consultants KPMG, PwC and Deloitte ... the American Chamber of Commerce, the IFSC's Tax Strategy Group and the Irish Funds Industry Association." When we give concessions to these groups, the tax burden on everybody else rises, which is part of the problem with the property tax. Those groups I have listed can just walk into the Department of Finance and walk away with massive tax concessions for extremely rich people, without analysis.

I ask the Leader to ensure that those briefing documents which were, unfortunately, so successful, be made available to parliamentarians to consult them and to see how they won the argument. I thought last week that those of us who think the tax burden should be spread evenly and fairly over the people had won the argument. This seems to indicate the Revenue Commissioners are seriously unhappy about what happened and they said so yesterday to Mr. Carl O'Brien in The Irish Times.