David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The section deals with capital gains. First, I welcome the increase. It was one of the positive intiatives in the budget, but we wanted the Government to go further. In our alternative budget submission to the Government we called for an increase to 40%, a return to the rate that existed before Charlie McCreevy cut it to 20%. The Minister often asks us for alternatives when we criticise the Government for cutting various allowance, and we bring forward proposals. This was a practical one that could have been implemented. In fact, had the rate been increased to 40% it would have raised ¤160 million, a very significant amount of money when one considers some of the cuts that were made in the budget. While we welcome the fact that this increase has been included in the Finance Bill, we do not want this to be done by stealth. It should be done in one swoop and brought back to 40%. Does the Government intend to increase the rate to 40% in next year's budget? If so, would the Minister accept that the additional income of ¤160 million would be important and might negate the need for cuts in some services or would prevent cuts in areas such as child benefit, disability payments and mobility payments, which were part of the budget?

Again, I welcome the fact that there has been an increase, but the Minister should have gone further. The extra income that would have been generated would have meant fewer cuts being required in some areas.