Paul Murphy: Demands Millionaires' Tax and USC Abolition
Paul Murphy argued for a millionaire's tax to replace the USC, saying the super-rich should pay to fund public housing, free public childcare and a proper national health service. He highlighted the arrival of the first €3 billion tranche of Apple tax money and cited Oxfam research on wealth concentration.
Paul Murphy proposed a millionaire's tax on the wealth of the super-rich as an alternative to the USC, arguing that taxing less than 1% of the population could raise €8 billion a year. He said those revenues could abolish the USC and still leave €3 billion annually to fund public housing, free public childcare or a national health service.
He cited Oxfam research that the richest 1% own more than a third of Irish financial wealth and repeated figures from the speech: 11 billionaires in the country, more than 1,400 people with wealth over €47 million, and over 20,000 with wealth exceeding €4.7 million. He named individuals mentioned in the transcript - Eugene Murtagh, Dennis O'Brien and Dermot Desmond - and referenced claims about Kingspan and Grenfell, alleged bribery related to the second mobile phone licence, and payments to Charlie Hawhey as part of his critique.
Murphy accused Deputy Healey Ray of posing as an ordinary person while opposing policies such as minimum wage increases and standing for the interests of the wealthy. He rejected claims that alternative tax policies are "not possible," noting the first €3 billion tranche of Apple tax money has landed in state coffers as evidence that alternatives can succeed.
The speech blamed Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Greens for politically choosing not to tax the super-rich and argued that shifting the tax burden away from ordinary workers is necessary amid the cost-of-living crisis. Murphy framed wealth redistribution as a remedy for families struggling with energy, heating and food costs and called for the wealthy to contribute more to public services.
Main policy demand
Paul Murphy proposed a millionaire's tax on the wealth of the super-rich as an alternative to the USC, arguing that taxing less than 1% of the population could raise €8 billion a year. He said those revenues could abolish the USC and still leave €3 billion annually to fund public housing, free public childcare or a national health service.
Data and examples cited
He cited Oxfam research that the richest 1% own more than a third of Irish financial wealth and repeated figures from the speech: 11 billionaires in the country, more than 1,400 people with wealth over €47 million, and over 20,000 with wealth exceeding €4.7 million. He named individuals mentioned in the transcript - Eugene Murtagh, Dennis O'Brien and Dermot Desmond - and referenced claims about Kingspan and Grenfell, alleged bribery related to the second mobile phone licence, and payments to Charlie Hawhey as part of his critique.
Challenge to opponents
Murphy accused Deputy Healey Ray of posing as an ordinary person while opposing policies such as minimum wage increases and standing for the interests of the wealthy. He rejected claims that alternative tax policies are "not possible," noting the first €3 billion tranche of Apple tax money has landed in state coffers as evidence that alternatives can succeed.
Fiscal and political consequences
The speech blamed Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Greens for politically choosing not to tax the super-rich and argued that shifting the tax burden away from ordinary workers is necessary amid the cost-of-living crisis. Murphy framed wealth redistribution as a remedy for families struggling with energy, heating and food costs and called for the wealthy to contribute more to public services.
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Transcript
Thanks, Cian Coyle. To deal with the topics at hand, Deputy Healey Ray was suggesting we don't know where money comes from. I'll tell you where money comes from. Wealth is generated by workers. It's not generated by millionaires like you, Deputy Healey Ray, who come in here, railing against increasing... No, because I can prove to everyone here I'm not a millionaire. Okay, your brother's a millionaire. I apologise. I apologise. No problem. I can't say yes or no about that because I don't know. That's no problem. Well, anyone that's working has a lot of bills to build. Fine. There's a game that's played in here, above all by the Healey Ray's, there's others in that side of the house, that come in here and play a game of being the ordinary man and woman standing up for ordinary people who don't believe in nonsense like climate change. But the Healey Ray's, in my opinion, do not stand up for ordinary people. We heard just a moment ago the Deputy railing against increases in the minimum wage. So who do they stand for? They stand for... I need no... Okay, okay. People can listen to the record. People can listen to the record and see that what is consistent is actually, while pretending to talk about common sense and all that good stuff, in reality representing the interests of the rich in this country. That's the truth of it. The other point I'd say is it's quite ironic on a day today to have speeches telling us basically it's not possible to increase corporation tax. It's not possible to have a tax on wealth. If we do that, it's just not possible. The reason I say it's ironic today is because the Irish Times got a push notification there to say that the first 3 billion tranche of Apple tax money lands in state coffers. I remember being told that something wasn't possible. We were told those of us who opposed the Apple tax deal, those of us who called it out, those of us who opposed the waste of public money on fighting a case to keep the money on the pockets of... on the balance sheet of one of the richest corporations in the world, we were told, sure the money would never be yours anyway. It would never, all the other countries would try and take it, it will never end up being in the hands of the Irish state. What's happened, we are utterly vindicated, the first 3 billion has come, the rest will come, and so don't believe it. When people say alternative policies are not possible, alternative policies are not workable, they are designed to constrain the terms of debate, to say to people in the old pat your terms that there is no alternative, it's not true. There is an alternative to the USC, that's what our amendment is about, one alternative is a millionaire's tax on the wealth of the super rich. Research by Oxfam has found that the richest 1% own more than a third of Irish financial wealth. There are 11 billionaires in this country, men like Eugene Murtagh, the founder of Kingspan, whose company was found partly responsible for the Grenfell Tower disaster. Dennis O'Brien, who bribed a Fine Gael minister to secure the second mobile phone licence. Dermot Desmond, who made payments to Charlie Hawhey. All of them amassed their riches, not off of their own work, but off of the backs of workers and from corruption. All of them now have more money than they could ever spend. There are also more than 1400 people in this country who have wealth of over 47 million euros. Over 20,000 have wealth of more than 4.7 million euros. Just by taxing this tiny elite, less than 1% of the population, Oxfam has shown how 8 billion euros could be raised every year. That is 3 billion more than the total amount raised from the USC last year. We could abolish the USC and still have 3 billion euros left over every year to fund public housing, free public childcare or a proper national health service. Every year the finance bill is passed and Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Greens make a political choice not to tax the super rich who can well afford it. They choose instead to impose the burden of taxation on ordinary workers who cannot. In the midst of a dire cost of living crisis, where so many families are struggling literally to keep the lights on, to keep the heat on, to put food on the table, we should not be making the millionaires and billionaires exempt from paying. We should make them pay, not take the money out of workers' pockets. There should be no billionaires. People do not have the right to have billions of euros of wealth. They do not deserve it. I do not believe they have earned the multiples that they have compared to the average worker and the average amount of wealth. It should be taken from them. It should be redistributed to those who need it. They are the only species on this planet who deserve to become extinct. Yeah you've got a buck. Oops. Thank you, isn't it. Thank you. Thank you very much for taking care of. Thank you, Professor who is too lazy to test your life, you're joking about싸ing is length.