Tax Code
Dail Éireann — 2026-04-21
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Simon Harris (FG), Wicklow

The Deputy is seriously out of touch in terms of the scale of the economic challenge facing the world right now. The Deputy’s position on this is to ask for more and more money to be spent every day. Maybe that is what one does when one is in opposition. In fairness, not all Opposition parties do that, but maybe that is what the Deputy’s party does when it is in opposition. The Deputy is ignoring the fact that he would not be able to speak to any of my European counterparts who has done more. If he brings in Rachel Reeves or asks the finance ministers in Germany, France or Italy - he can pick any country - he will learn that we have taken more action than almost any other European country per head of population, and rightly so because we have run the economy well. If the Deputy were sitting on this side of the House - thankfully the people have not put him here the last number of times they were asked – we would not have the surpluses that he now demands we spend. We have to take this step by step. That is not a mantra; it is a fact. It is the best advice available to me. Asking me to do more on heating during the summer months when I have to prepare for the winter months is not a sensible thing. This is about actually-----

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-04-21/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-21T01:01:08+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-21