Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2026-04-16
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Simon Harris (FG), Wicklow

We have to acknowledge that real wages in this country are rising. We also have to acknowledge that we made very significant increases, quite rightly, in the disability budget this year, albeit with a big focus on service provision. Those increases totalled over €600 million. The Government is committed to the introduction of a cost-of-disability payment and a lot of very good work is being done by the Minister, Deputy Calleary, my colleague the Minister of State, Deputy Higgins, and others. The consultation on that has closed. There was very good engagement from stakeholders, including people with disabilities and their representative bodies. I thank them for that.
I need to keep saying, because it is true, that the measures we took have benefits for some sectors but they also have an overall economic benefit that helps everybody. There is nothing that triggers inflation more than commodity prices. If we cannot take measures to try to suppress energy prices, insofar as anyone can during a war and the knock-on impact on supply to which it gives rise, inflation will increase even further. That will have a detrimental effect on the people to which the Deputy referred. I accept his bona fides in highlighting their cases.
The Deputy mentioned Google and others. That is fine; that is his politics. I must point out that €109.3 billion is expected in total tax revenue this year, about €34 billion of that, or 31.1%, is expected to come from the same corporate taxpayers the Deputy demonises. That is before we even get to the income tax benefit of the many thousands of people who work in those communities, some in Dublin and many outside it in terms of regional development.
The Deputy's views on protest are well known. We can have a debate on his a loose enough definition of what constitutes a protest. He and I have different views as to where peaceful protest starts and ends. Lots of genuine, decent people protested this week. There were also people who crossed the line in terms of legality. I saw people saying pretty horrific things to Deputy Murphy about his support for LGBT people in this country. I agree with him on his support for those people, and we have common cause in that regard. It worries me slightly that he is willing to perhaps adopt common cause with people who abhor much of what he champions. He may agree or disagree with that. I am not saying this to be provocative or rude, but the Deputy sees the bigger prize as mass protest. That merits reflection. Many people leading the protests oppose and abhor everything Deputy Murphy stands for, whether people think that is right or wrong.
On the VAT cut in the hospitality sector, which is supported by some but not all of those in opposition, people can refer to beef barons and name large fast food change chains. The vast majority of people who benefit from the reduced rate of VAT on hospitality are small restaurants and cafés and rural pubs that serve meals in the middle of the day. They are the backbone of the domestic Irish economy. They employ a hell of a lot of people directly and provide benefits to more people indirectly. It is a measure that becomes more important than ever now in terms of supporting the domestic economy and reducing the cost for SMEs at this difficult time.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-04-16/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:49+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-16