Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements
Dail Éireann — 2026-04-28
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Micheál Martin (FF), Cork South-Central

If I could, through the Chair, say that Deputy Boyd Barrett raised the issue of equality. Ireland is more equal than most, actually, because of our progressive taxation system. In fact, there are a lot of people railing against that now on various platforms and media saying that we are overtaxing but Ireland is a much more equal society than others because of a progressive income tax system.
On Deputy Murphy's remarks, I do not represent any billionaire class. That is just nonsense. It is stupid stuff to be articulating in here. People are really fed up with that. I just represent the country. I represent the working people of this country. I said this to the Deputy before. I remember the 1980s here when we had 17% unemployment. That is what motivates me to participate in these events and to always be hungry for more investment and more jobs in the country. I notice today the Collison brothers are in his target zone. They are his new target. They came through the Young Scientist competition many years ago as young leaving certificate students and one of them won it. They are particularly bright and able. They created a world product that is global in its reach and that is impactful. A lot of people celebrate that, and that is a very good achievement for them. They have brought back some of that investment to Ireland both in terms of the company and employment and in terms of investment in biodiversity and other projects. That is a positive. They do not have to.
There are many authors of the units in the back gardens and so on.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-04-28/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:52+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-28