Maurice Cummins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It addresses the major discrepancies which necessitated companies having to set up in, for example, Northern Ireland. This is a very positive step which will be accepted by all concerned in the road haulage sector.

Looking briefly at the Sinn Féin budget book which if it were on sale in a bookshop it would certainly be in the fiction category. It proposes €1.1 billion of new taxes, even though the recovery is fragile. It opposes the Government's tax cuts for ordinary working families. In the Sinn Féin plans there would be no universal social charge cut for any person earning over €19,500 - just over the minimum wage. Its proposals to abolish the 41% tax relief on pension contributions would hit private and public sector workers. Public sector workers are obliged to pay pension contributions. Independent experts have calculated that a garda or nurse on €40,000 would lose approximately €800 per year under the Sinn Féin proposals.

The Government has reduced inheritance tax while Sinn Féin would increase it, hitting middle Ireland.A son or daughter inheriting a house would be considerably worse off under Sinn Féin.

At the next election, people will have a choice between securing our recovery and gambling on policies that would create instability and put our future at risk.