I wish to raise a serious issue today, namely, the work of social media content moderators. These people carry out a new form of work which is horrific in nature but regrettably is essential. On a daily basis, these workers will view and filter out the worst acts of humanity posted online in order that they do not appear on our screens. This is done through social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. It may come as a surprise to the Minister of State that approximately 2,000 workers in Dublin ar…

I am genuinely very disappointed by that response. I am a former trade union official and the Minister of State has spent the last four minutes reciting the current employment law protections. Respectfully, I am aware of them. The problem is that the protections in place are not working in respect of these content moderators. There is no right to collective bargaining in this country, which undermines much of the collective protections that are currently in law. Another line from the workers' letter that was publis…

A few years ago, on 23 January 2015, something very strange happened. This country flew its flags at half mast for the death of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, who was without doubt one of the world's greatest butchers and tyrants. We now know, thanks to the pioneering work of Irish journalist, Sally Hayden, that things are getting worse rather than better in Saudi Arabia. Members can see in this morning's edition of The Irish Times that she reports that African and Asian migrant workers are being locked up in unsan…

I second the recommendation.

I second the recommendation.

I listened very carefully to the lengthy debate last week on this recommendation and Senator Mullen has a point. It was a real pity that the Minister of State rejected every request last week for a report on how we might better align our financial plans for the future. Just like the request we made last week, this request has merit. I think, or at least I hope, no Member would be comfortable with wealthy people availing of the artists' exemption. There is something fundamentally unfair about that. Senator Mullen se…

Hear, hear.

I welcome the Minister of State. I agree with my two colleagues who have spoken on this issue. Our view of it is simple; it is well dodgy and does not stand up. Senator Higgins makes a very good point. Perhaps the Government is gambling on the fact that ordinary working people do not have the means to challenge this but, constitutionally, it really does not stack up. To be clear, section 13 of the Finance Act 2018 amended section 126 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 to clarify a number of payments made by the Mi…

The Minister of State gave a lengthy explanation but he did not answer the questions that were posed respectfully by the three of us. At the risk of repeating myself, this payment was quite correctly introduced as an urgent needs payment. Under the Finance Act 2018, an urgent needs payment is exempt from income tax. Saying that the Government said it would be taxable does not matter. What matters is how the Government introduced the payment. It was introduced as an urgent needs payment and such payments are exempt …

That was never suggested.

Hear, hear.

We are opposing this section. Section 7 amends section 477C(5A) of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 to extend the enhanced help to buy relief. The help to buy scheme provides income tax relief to assist first-time buyers with obtaining the deposit required to purchase or build their first home. The enhanced help to buy relief is set to expire on 31 December 2020 and this section provides for an extension of the enhanced relief by 12 months to 31 December 2021. The Government's policy change allows first-time buyers…

Not really. I think we will agree to disagree on this matter at this point.

Briefly, I wish to voice my support on this matter. I am always fascinated by the fact that the one thing that neither of the conservative parties opposite ever concede to do is to try to measure the wealth in this country. Every opportunity is taken to avoid doing that. As Senator Higgins has so eloquently pointed out, there has been a huge gain in wealth for the wealthiest, the top 1% in this country. All this recommendation is requesting is some information on this. Why should anyone be afraid of a report detail…

I move recommendation No. 5: In page 11, after line 34, to insert the following: “Report on operation of income tax relief for cross-border workers 11. The Minister shall, within six months of the passing of this Act, prepare and lay before both Houses of the Oireachtas a report on the operation of income tax relief for cross-border workers under section 825A of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997, including the consideration of options to regularise the temporary relief granted by the Revenue Commissioners under that…

I thank the Minister of State for the extensive answer. It is good to hear cross-party support on this issue. We should look at it on Report Stage. If the six months is the issue, we can look at when we can get a report done. However, there seems to be consensus that we need a report on this issue. I would like to get a commitment from the Minister of State on the production of that report. We can figure out the timeline later but the Minister of State should give us a commitment because this is important, as he ha…

I move recommendation No. 6: In page 11, after line 34, to insert the following: “Report on income tax relief 11. The Minister shall, within six months of the passing of this Act, prepare and lay before both Houses of the Oireachtas a report on an income tax relief equivalent in value to 8.3 per cent of annual rent to all private rental tenants not already in receipt of any State subsidy, examining the social and economic impact of this measure in the context of high levels of rent.”. This recommendation relates to…

The contradiction is on the Minister of State's side. He is saying that if we effectively give money to developers via the help to buy scheme, it will not cause inflation, but it will with renters. We will not get agreement on this, but we are asking for a report to examine what the consequences could be. What is the harm in that? What is the Minister of State afraid the report might elicit?

I move recommendation No. 7: In page 54, between lines 23 and 24, to insert the following: “Report on restoring cap on intangible assets 23. The Minister shall, within six months of the passing of this Act, prepare and lay before both Houses of the Oireachtas a report on restoring the 80 per cent cap on intangible assets onshored between 2015 and 2017 that can be written off against profits at the rate of 100 per cent.". This recommendation basically calls on the Minister to prepare and lay before both Houses, with…

I welcome that thoughtful contribution by Senator Casey. There is much on which I agree with him. It emphasises the frustration of those of us on this side of the House. The requests that are being made are very reasonable. We are asking the Government to prepare a report. It is very disappointing that, recommendation after recommendation, the Minister of State is refusing to engage in terms of taking on these reports. To be frank, it strikes far too conservative a tone. What is the Minister of State afraid of in t…