Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

If we get into a back and forth, it will probably not be particularly productive, to be fair. There are clear ideological differences between the Minister and me. I believe that someone who earns €140,000 can afford to pay a little more tax. We need that tax and we will need it in the years to come. One of the reasons we have exactly half the ICU beds we are supposed to have in this country, and we were told we would need in the 2009 Prospectus report, is because, year after year, this Government, unfortunately, did not ring-fence funding to expand the numbers of beds until such time as the crisis hit last year. That is a fundamental failure of planning and delivering ICU beds. That is a fact. We know we have one of the lowest rates of ICU beds in Europe. That is a fact. My point is that rather than being opportunistic, we are looking for ways to raise revenue in a sensible fashion over the coming years to ensure we can pay for decent public services. That is the responsible thing to do.