Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I wish the Cathaoirleach, the Leas-Chathaoirleach, the Leader, the Deputy Leader and all of our colleagues a good summer after what has been a fairly intense year. I thank them all for their courtesy and patience at all times. I thank the staff, including Martin, Bridget and the whole Seanad team, for the incredible job they do. I include in that all of our ushers and the huge team of support staff who enable us to do our jobs here. I wish all of them well.

I also want to acknowledge the particular help the Deputy Leader gave in relation to the Rehab dispute in Limerick, which has come to an end now that we have a settlement to that dispute. It is not everything it should be but it is a good settlement. I want to acknowledge the support the Deputy Leader gave on that issue and thank her for that.

On this last day before summer I request that when we come back we have a debate on the whole issue of a wealth tax. There was an excellent report by Mr. Jim Clarken of Oxfam in the weekend newspapers but it did not get any coverage because of everything that is going on with RTÉ and so forth. Mr. Clarken pointed out on behalf of Oxfam, which has done a huge amount of work on this, that there are approximately 21,000 people in Ireland who have a net wealth of €4.7 million, excluding the family farm and the family home. Oxfam has calculated that if we put a wealth tax on those people - do not forget that those with less than €4.7 million would not pay a penny - we could generate approximately €8 billion in additional revenue in this State. Think of the transformative effect that would have in terms of all the conversations we have each week in this House about investment in housing, health, and education. The potential is absolutely huge. We need to talk about this. Mr. Clarken is suggesting a citizens' assembly. I think a debate, in the first instance, would be very worthwhile in this Chamber so we can tease out how this could work. Mr. Clarken makes the point that the richest 1% of the population globally have gained 70 times more wealth than the bottom 50% in the last ten years. He also makes the point that the International Monetary Fund, which is hardly an organisation of the left, has pointed out that half of the inflation we are enduring as part of the cost-of-living crisis is caused by corporate profits. It is just greed that is driving so much of this. That is a fact we need to consider. Perhaps the starkest fact is that one person dies of hunger every 28 seconds across Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and South Sudan. Mr. Clarken points out that over the last two years, the windfall profits of the largest 18 food and beverage corporations in the world were €14 billion. The funding gap we need to bridge to make sure people do not die of hunger is €6.4 billion. The current system is not fit for purpose. We need to talk about how we can implement wealth and windfall taxes at home and across the world to ensure justice and to ensure people actually live a decent life. It is a debate well worth having when we come back in the autumn. I wish everybody well.