Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is good to see the Cathaoirleach in the Chair. I was away last week. I commend him for what he said a few moments ago on the tragedy of Ann Lovett's life. Quite rightly he cited the song by Christy Moore about the middle of the island. I have to say that even now the lyrics are absolutely powerful. I lived just a few miles away from Ann Lovett. The key line is "Everybody knew, nobody said". It is powerful and still resonates to this day. I wanted to acknowledge that.

At present a conversation is kicking up in the audiovisual room with Jim Clerkin of Oxfam on a stunning report it brought out last year. It is the first proper analysis of wealth globally and in Ireland. It shows a huge shift in wealth towards a very small section of people, with 1% of people in Ireland owning 27% of the wealth. This in itself is quite stunning. The top 10% own 64% of the wealth. Two thirds of the wealth in the State is owned by just 10% of the people. This is the most in-depth study done on wealth.

What Oxfam is saying to us is that the report suggests that it is time to have a national conversation about a wealth tax. As things stand this is not sustainable. Even organisations such as the World Economic Forum and the IMF are saying that perhaps we need to look at this. Successful wealth taxes are already in place in Spain and Argentina. Other countries are actively looking at it. Consider the huge differentiation in wealth and the fact we see a very small section of people owning the wealth. I have the figures here. The bottom 50% of Irish society owns just 1% of the wealth. That is the reality as detailed by Oxfam. This is not sustainable. I am asking for a conversation and a debate in the Chamber.